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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 







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CLOVER CULTURE 




BY HENRY WALLACE. 



1892: 
Homestead Company. 

Des Moines, Iowa. 



.:>*' 



ft.*"^'' 



Entered according to the Act of ('onoress. in 

THE YEAR 1802, 

By henry WALLACE, 

in the office of the librarian of congress, at 
Washington. D. ('. 



PREFACE. 

The scientific facts pertaining- to agriculture, so far as 
they have been discovered, are scattered through many books 
and other publications, comparativeh' few of them being ac- 
cessible to the ordinary farmer ; the practical experience in 
the application of these facts, so far as knovs^n, is in the pos- 
session of the thousands of widely scattered farmers and 
larg"ely beyond the reach of the public. 

It has occurred to us that we might do some service to 
the farmers of the United States, and especially of the West, 
by collating as man}' as possible of the facts that are accu- 
rately and certainly known, and the experience of farmers over 
as wide a district as possible, on the one subject of "Clover 
Culture," and presenting- them to the public in compact form, 
in language within the comprehension of ever}' farmer and at 
an expense within the means of every man who grows an 
acre of clover. We began the investigation of the subject 
some years ago with the sole purpose of solving the difficulties 
encountered in obtaining satisfactory stands of clover (m sev- 
eral hundred acres of land in western Iowa. Discussion of 
various phases of the subject throug-h the Homks'I'kad has 
brought us hundreds of letters from farmers in many states 
who were meeting the same or similar difficulties, and the 
following pag-es are the condensed results of our study of the 
subject, of the experience of our correspondents, of our own 
experience and our observation both at home and abroad. 



As such wc submit it to the thf)Ug'htful reader. 

The book is not written for the instruction of the scien- 
tist, nor is it intended as an exhaustive discussion of the sub- 
ject, but to place in the hands of the practical farmer such 
information, both scientific and practical, as he needs on the 
subject under c<msideration. We have therefore, wherever 
possible, translated scientific terms into every-day Eng^lish 
and have aimed to put the fodder in the rack where even the 
lambs can reach it. Such has been the aim; how far we have 
succeeded the reader must be the judg-e. 

HENRY WALLACE. 



THE CLOVERS AND OTHER GRASSES. 



CHAPTER I. 



In the very outset of our investigation of the subject of the 
clovers, it is important to notice the distinction between these 
and the other grasses. While in popular usage we apply the 
term grasses to all kinds of herbage that is summer food for 
the lower animals, botanically speaking clover is not a grass. 
The term grass < pertains to plants with simple leaves, stems 
generally jointed and tubular, husks or chaff, technichally 
called glumes^ in pairs and seeds single. A slight observa- 
tion will show that the clovers do not belong to this class. 
The true grasses include all our commonly called grasses, the 
clovers excepted, and besides nearly all our grains, such as 
wheat, oats, barley and corn and also the sorghums. Clover 
belongs to the LeguniiitoscB, or Pulse familiy, and to the same 
family belong peas, beans, and vetches, sanfoin, lupines 
and many others among what are popularly termed grasses. 
It includes a large number of weeds such as wild indigo, 
wild peas, shoestring, etc., also a. large number of shrubs 
such as the Wisteria, Carragana, Robinia, etc., and forest trees 
of which the locusts are the best known in the temperate 
zone and logwood and mahogany in the torrid zone. There 
are 6500 known species of LeguminoscB^ it being surpassed by 
but one family, that of the CompositcB^ to which belong the 
goldenrods, asters and sunflowers, and in the wealth of its 
products for the supply of human wants the family of the 
LeguminoscB surpasses all others. 

The Clovers as a rule differ from the other grasses in theii 
habit of root growth. Most true grasses throw out their roots 



4 CLOVER CULTURE. 

horizontally, and while these often reach to great depths, 
much further than those who have not particularly investiga- 
ted the matter believe, they penetrate to these depths only af- 
ter having exhausted the fertility of the surface, and then in 
seoarate rootlets, while the cultivated clovers go down with 
along, straight tap-root, some of them, as the alfalfa, reaching, 
under favorable circumstances, to a depth of eight or ten feet, 
and sometimes from fifteen to twenty, while three to four feet 
is by no means an uncommon depth to be reached by the or- 
dinary red clover. The most striking difference between the 
clovers and the other grasses is in their power to increase the 
fertility of the soil, and in a way which has, until recent years, 
been unaccountable on any known scientific principles. 
This power is now believed to be shared by the entire family 
of plants called Legiiminosce^ of which the best known cul- 
tivated varieties in America are j)eas, beans and the clovers. 

This mysterious power of enriching the soil, while at the 
same time taking from it large crops of the highest feeding 
value, has been well known to practical farmers ever since 
agriculture had a history, and no doubt for a long time before. 
We find Virgil, for example, more tfian a century before the 
Christian esa, singing in the first Georgic: 

'*A.t least, where vetches, pulse and tares have stood, 
And stalks of lupines grew (a stubborn wood) 

The ensuing season in return may bear 
The bearded product of the golden year. 

For flax and oats will burn the tender field 
And sleeping poppies harmful harvest yield." 

— Georgic I st^ Drydeji' s Trans. 

The fact that good grain crops may be expected after a 
crop of Legumes was as well understood in those far-off 
days as it is now, and it is only in very recent years that scien- 
tists have been able to offer any adequate explanation. Flax 
seems to have had as bad a reputation as a soil robber as it 
has now, and we suspect our modern wise men know as little 
of the real reason as did the ancients. We find Virgil giving 
directions as to sowing the legumes in the following: 
"Sow beans and clover on the rotten soil, 

******* 

Vile vetches would you sow and lentils lean, 
The growth of Egypt, or the kidney bean, 

Begin when the slow Waggoner descends, 
Nor cease your sowing till midsummer ends." 

—Ibid. 



CLOVER CULTURE. 5 

The old poet had some notions about clover as food for 
dairy cows, for he sings: 

"If milk be thy design 
Bring clover grass. ' ' 

—Ibid. 

It is a matter of history well known to all students, that 
the revival of English agriculture, which has made such won- 
derful development mail lines in the last century, wassynclj^ron- 
ous with the introduction of clover and turnips, the clover 
enriching the soil in the material needed for the production 
of turnips, and the turnips furnishing the winter feed that 
has enabled Englishmen to bring to perfection their famous 
breeds of live stock. Nor need we go to a remote age, nor to 
foreign 1-ands to notice this wonderful distinction between the 
clovers and the other grasses. 

While it is generally conceded among intelligent farmers 
that exclusive grain-growing impoverishes the soil, and that 
grassculture must be resorted to in order to restore wastes of the 
soil robber, it is not generally known, as it should be, that 
this restoration comes almost exclusively through the medium 
of the clovers. Hence, we find that wherever farming is con- 
ducted on scientific principles, clover culture assumes a posi- 
tion of prime importance. At first, farmers are disposed to 
believe that grasses of any kind add to the fertility of the soil. 
In a measure this is true, but mainly true because they are 
grown in connection with some of the varieties of clover. The 
discovery that the recuperative power of the grasses lies al- 
most wholly in the clovers comes to some farmers as a very 
great surprise, and often in connection with blasted hopes. 
How often have farmers who have sown their lands to timo- 
thy exclusively, and after mowing two or three years and then 
plowing them up and planting them to corn, been grievously 
disappointed in the results? It is a matter of common obser- 
vation and remark that while timothy alone is a doubtful 
and uncertain crop, when sown with clover it yields abund- 
antly and nearly as much timothy is grown with the clover 
as without and a fine crop of clover besides. The next year 
it will be noticed that while the clover is said to be "frozen 
out," but really dying out by the natural limitation of its 
life, the timothy grows most luxuriantly, and the faith of the 
farmers in this crop revives. The common explanation that 
clover keeps the land moist or that it keeps it loose, is wide 
of the mark. The true explanation is that clover feeds the 
timo thy with nitrogen by means of its decaying roots. Farm- 



(. CLOVER CULTURE. 

ers have also noticed how difficult it is to maintain a blue- 
grass sod for a series of years, unless it isaccompanied by white 
clover. Blue grass maintains its selfish monopolizing policy 
for a year or two, but is compelled to yield sooner or later to 
the white clover and the two ever after grow together, for the 
simple reason that the blue grass, being a greedy nitrogen feed- 
er, and always nitrogen hungry after the natural resourcesof 
the soil have been exhausted, is compelled to depend upon the 
nitrogen furnished by the white clover. If blue grass were 
used as a meadow grass, and the entire crop taken from the 
soil, it would be clearly seen to be as exhaustive of fertility as 
is timothy or grain crops. Every farmer understands that 
all kinds of grain or grass crops grow more luxuriantly 
when planted or sown with clover or on clover sod. This fact 
points out the clear and wide distinction between the clovers 
and the other grasses. All other grasses outside of the Le- 
guminosae^ the principally cultivated classes of which in Amer- 
ica are the clovers, are great nitrogen feeders and always ni- 
trogen hungry and, having no means of obtaining nitrogen 
except from the soil itself, are dependent either upon farm 
yard or artificial manure or the clovers for their supply, when 
once the virgin fertility of the soil in nitrogen is exahusted. 

The most vital distinction, then, between the clovers and 
the other grasses is this: that the clovers, together with other 
v^xi^XA^soiLegianinosae^ are able to obtain a supply of nitro- 
gen, the most costly element of fertility, from a source 
quite independent of the stored fertility of the soil or of ap- 
plied manure. It is important for the farmer to keep this dis- 
tinction in mind in order that he may understand not only 
the reason why the cultivation of the clovers has always ac- 
companied the introduction of improved farming, but also the 
bearing which their cultivation will have upon the develop- 
ment of the resources of the West, and in fact of the entire 
Nation. 

The sources from which clover obtains nitrogen, the 
relation which nitrogen sustains to the other two great ele- 
ments of fertility in the soil, potash and phosphoric acid, and 
the place which the clovers and other species of Leguminosae 
occupy of necessity in any cheap and practical feeding ration 
and their relation to the improvement of live stock as well as 
to the production of grains which will be demanded by the 
rapidly increasing population in America, will be discussed 
in the concluding chapters of this work. It is enough now 
to point out the facts which are clearly recognized by agricul- 



CLOVER CULTURE. 7 

tural students and which have in the last few years been 
clearly demonstrated and for the first time really understood. 
Our object at present is to call the attention of our readers to 
the wide distinction betwixt the clovers and the other grasses, 
and to point out the fact that the cultivation of some variety 
of the Leguminosae is essential to any great improvement, 
either in grain production, the production of livestock or the 
conservation of the fertility of the soil. 




DISTRIBUTION OF THE CLOVERS. 



CHAPTER ir. 



If the statement in the last paragraph of the previous 
chapter be true that "the cultivation of some variety of the Le- 
guvtinoscB is essential to any great improvement, either in 
grain production, the production of livestock or the conserva- 
tion of the fertility of the soil," then the distribution of the 
legumes, and especially of the clovers, becomes a question 
alike of great scientific and practical importance. A crop 
that can not only supply itself with nitrogen, to a great ex- 
tent independently of the nitrogen of the soil, but, by the de- 
cay of its roots and haulm supply other crops with nitrogen, 
is the very keystone of the arch of successful agriculture where- 
ever its cultivation is possible. 

The importance of the subject is greatly enhanced when 
we take into consideration the relation it sustains to the fer- 
tility of the soil, to growing crops and to the structure of all 
animals. Nitrogen, while the most costly and an absolutely 
essential element in soil fertility, in plant growth and in ani- 
mal life, is one of the most abundant elements in all nature. 
It constitutes about four-fifths of the atmosphere, where it 
seems to be used merely to dilute the oxygen. It enters 
into no chemical combinations with it, but co-exists simply 
as a mixture, like sand in sugar. The process by which the 
free nitrogen of the atmosphere is transformed into the ni- 
trogenous compounds of the soil has long been a puzzle to 
scientists, a puzzle all the more complicated and difl5cult of 
solution because it has been held until quite recently by all 
scientists and investigators that plants can not appropriate 
free nitrogen from the atmosphere. It is a striking fact, how- 
ever, that all the sources from which either the nitrogen of 



CLOVER CULTURE. 9 

■commerce or that which enters into grain, grasses or the ani- 
mal forms is drawn are either the sedimentary rocks, the 
remains of animal or plant life, the soil in which plant life 
Nourishes, or, finally the atmosphere itself. The sedimentary 
rocks abound in animal and vegetable remains, and the 
atmosphere before rains, and especially after protracted 
drouths, contains available nitrogen in the form of ammonia 
which the rains bring down. It is evident that this latter 
form is a mere exhalation from decaying plant or animal life 
on earth, a supposition rendered still more evident by the 
fact that the amount of ammonia brought down by the rains is 
greater near large cities where decey is greater than it is in agri- 
cultural districts. Two methods alone have been suggested with 
any show of proof, by which the nitrogen of the atmosphere 
may be transformed into the nitrogenous compounds that 
make up the fertility of the soil — the one the combination 
called nitric acid, and believed to be a result of power- 
ful electrical action in the air during thunderstorms, and the 
other the action of the legumes through the microbes in the 
tubercles on their roots. The last has been demonstrated to 
be a fact, but the exact way in which it is done seems to be 
as mysterious as ever. May it not be (and we put the ques- 
tion merely as a suggestion, never having heard it advanced 
by any scientific authority) that the supply of nitrogen for 
the support of the life of the plant or animal is main- 
ly, if not wholly, obtained from the legumes which alone 
of all plant life have been clearly demonstrated to have the 
power to procure it, in a way not yet explained, from the free 
nitrogen of the atmosphere? 

Speaking, more particularly of the place of nitro- 
gen in the animal economy, it, or rather the albumi- 
noids, (the form in which the nitrogen is appropri- 
ated by the animal), forms the lean meat of 
all animals, much of the blood, the white and yolk of 
the egs, and is in fact the flesh-former and strength-giver of 
the animal economy. Potash, lime and the phospates enter 
into the bony structure, and to some extent into the flesh. 
Carbon is the main element of the fat, but without the albu- 
minoids there can be no muscular formation, and hence no 
animal life. It is perfectly clear that the animal can receive 
nothing into its organization except through the food it con- 
sumes, and hence the flesh-forming element must be in the 
plant, the grass, the grain, or new milk fed to the young, 
and in the proportion adapted to the age of the animal — about 



10 CLOVER CULTURE. 

one of nitrogen to four of carbo-hydrates in its >outh, and in 
decreasing proportion after the muscular system has been 
built up. It will be seen, therefore, that the great problem 
of feeding lies in supplying nitrogen or albuminoids in this 
proportion, and consequently in supplying foods which in their 
combination have this proportion. On account of its relative 
scarcity to the elements that make up bone, or that keep up 
heat, it is always the most costly, and hence any plant or any 
class of plants that can draw supplies from the atmosphere in- 
stead of the soil becomes invaluable in the economy of the 
farm and the economy of nature. It is this fact that makes 
the distribution of the Leguminosce^ and especially of the 
clovers, a matter of such great importance in agriculture. 

The LegiiminoscB as we have seen constitutes a very 
large class of plants in all parts of the world, and in all con- 
ditions of soil and climate. It embraces some of the largest 
trees of the forest, especially in tropical countries, and, in the 
temperate zone, one of the most distinctive varieties is that 
of the locust, and the fact that the Leguminosae are able to 
procure nitrogen from the atmosphere explains what has 
doubtless been a puzzle to many readers, why grain crops can 
be grown close to a locust tree while they refuse to grow for 
rods around an oak, sugar tree or a walnut. They are found 
in all wild pastures, both in the shape of weeds and grasses. 
The wild indigo, the vetch and shoestring may be cited as 
prairie illustrations. If, as we have suggested, it is mainly 
through the LeguminoscB that the nitrogen of the air can be 
appropriated for the use of vegetable life, it will be clearly 
seen that the absence of the legumes would make plant lite 
impossible. Whether this be true or whether science may 
yet reveal other hidden secrets of nature, showing that she is 
not limited to this class of plants, it is but reasonable to expect 
that they should have a wide distribution in every soil that 
is at all capable of supporting plant life. Without speaking 
ofother leguminous plants, such as peas, beans, vetches and lup- 
ines that have been highly prized by agriculturists in all parts 
of the world, and in all ages, it is worth while to nptice that 
there are in America more than forty native varieties of the 
clovers, in addition to those introduced since the settlement 
of the country, and that among these are species apparently 
adapted to all climates and to all varieties of soir,^and all of 
them noted for being nitrogen feeders ofother plants and re- 
storers of the wastes created, in the first years of cultivation 
in every country, by the soil robber. The clovers in some of 



CLOVER CULTURE. 11 

their varietres seem to be adapted to almost every soil where 
the plow can provide the means of human existence. Were 
nature as thoughtless as man, some portions ot the earth 
would become a desert waste. She is ever aiming to build 
up and restore, and much of the skill and success in agricul- 
ture depends upon noting carefully her processes and working 
with her instead of at cross purposes. 

As an example of this we might note the fact that the, 
Japanese clover, {lespedeza striata) sown by no human hand, 
spreads over the abandoned fields of the South and restores the 
wastes of the cotton planter, the robber of the Southern soils. 
The Bur clover, {medtcago deiiticulata) and half a dozen varie- 
ties of trifolia ,sown by the hand of Nature herself, gives rich- 
ness to the pastures of California with its rainless summers; the 
alfalfa, {medicago sativd) makes the desert bloom like the gar- 
den of the Lord wherever the hand of man furnishes the life- 
giving water; the white clover, {trifoliutn repens) follows 
hard after the soil robber of the prairies and kindly binds up 
the broken-hearted land; the alsike camps in the sloughs and 
swales and along the bottoms, providing pasture for the bees 
while reclaiming the marshes; the white sweet clover, {mel- 
ilotus alba\ and the Bokhara^ a closely related variety, take 
possession of the highways; the crimson clover, {trifolium in- 
carnatum\ flourishes all along the line between the cotton 
lands of the South and the distinctively corn landsof the North, 
while the medium red and the mammoth {trifolimn pratense) 
pre-empt the carboniferous and calcareous soils wherever there 
is twenty inches of rainfall, mainly in the growing season. 
None of these ever take a foot-hold in the soil without en- 
riching it and none ever fellowship with other grasses with- 
out increasing their luxuriance. 

As this work is intended to be practical rather than scien- 
tific, for the guide of the farmer and not the instruction of the 
scientist, dealing in scientific facts and conclusions only in so 
far as it is necessary for the farmer to understand them in or- 
der to deal intelligently with clovers, we discuss the distribu- 
tion of the clovers only in so far as it interests the American 
farmer. The mammoth and common red have a very wide 
distribution, and we group these together because they are 
not different species, as many suppose, but merely an early 
and late variety of the same species. This distinction is im- 
portant, and because of the failure to note it carefully, many 
farmers have been led into serious error in their methods of 
handling mammoth, otherwise known as * 'pea-vine" or "sap- 



12 CLOVER CULTURE. 

ling" clover. They regard the red as a species that produces 
two crops in a year, and seed only in the second crop, and the 
mammoth as a variety that produces seed in the first crop but 
furnishes none in the second.' This is a mistake. The common 
red does produce seed the first crop wherever it has an opportu- 
nity of insect fertilization. We have cut on our own farms as 
much as three bushels of seed per acre from the first crop and 
from a thin stand, but ordinarily it is only the late blooms 
that become fertilized. This is owing to the scarcity of 
bumble bees, and to the fact that during the season of first 
blossoming there is an abundance of preferred bloom which 
prevents the Italian bees from visiting the clover. 
Farmers have abundant proof of this fact when they cut tim- 
othy for seed, in which they find more or less clover seed 
when the common red is grown with timothy. The mam- 
moth would yield a second crop if the season were long 
enough. If a mixed crop of mammoth and medium red is cut 
by the 15th of June, or even the 20th, and the season is 
favorable, many plants of the mammoth will ripen seed, 
and if they are both cut by the loth of June, a crop of seed 
may be expected from both. As proof of this we cite the fact 
that we have mown a meadow of mixed varieties for ten years 
and the mammoth in this meadow holds its own, which it 
could not do were it not annually ripening seeds. ' It has 
never, except on one occasion, been mowed prior to the 4tb 
of July. The mammoth is simply a late-maturing variety of 
trifolium pratense^ the botanical name for both, its season of 
growth being from two to three weeks longer for the crop 
than that of the medium red. This distinction will be more 
fully pointed out when we come to discuss the best methods 
of the management of each. These two varieties ot the trifo- 
lium pratense have a very wide distribution, being co-exten- 
sive with the limestone and calcareous soils over the entire 
continent,,. limited on these only by the amount of rainfall. 
They grow luxuriantly on all the limestone soils of the East- 
ern and Middle states and refuse to grow with a profitable 
luxuriance wherever the rocks are deficient in the mineral ele- 
ments peculiar to these soils. They reach far south on the 
Appalachian range, and their limitation by soil formation is 
most striking in Tennessee; They grow luxuriantly in Mid- 
dle and East Tennessee, but whenever we pass west of the 
carboniferous formations into West Tennessee, they there dis- 
appear or fail to grow in desirable luxuriance.' They may 
be found in North Alabama and Georgia, and even far south. 



CLOVER CULTURE. 13 

•wherever the peculiar geolog-ical formation of the Appalachian 
range appears, and they disappear with this formation. 

The peculiar composition of the drift soil that covers the 
prairies of most of the Western states gives these varieties a 
very wide distribution. It is well known that most of these 
soils are not made in situ; in other words, they are not the result 
of decomposition of the rocks that underlie these states, al- 
though in many places modified by them. This drift is the 
result of the decomposition of rocks far distant and is min- 
gled so thoroughly that scarcely any section may be found 
in the Western states in which there is not abundance of car- 
"boniferous or calcareous matter to develop a luxuriant growth 
of clover. The calcareous soils of the Missouri Valley, the 
deposit of the calcareous formations of the Upper Missouri, 
furnish material for the growth of clover in the greatest abun- 
dance. 

We have for several years past been endeavoring to locate 
in crude outline the western limit of the medium and mam- 
moth clovers. Without coming to any very definite conclu- 
sions and leaving the matter as yet undetermined, it is safe to 
say that in ordinary seasons these varieties may be grown suc- 
cessfully on fair soils as far west as the longitude 96° 40 m. west 
from Greenwich, and in favorable seasons there is practically 
no western limit; in other words, the limit is determined not 
by the structure of the soil, which on good lands is favorable 
for clover everywhere, but by the rainfall. Magnificent ex- 
amples of common red and mammoth, white and alsike have 
been sent us this year from the extreme western boundary of 
Nebraska, longitude io2°3om., showing conclusively that the 
soil conditions are of the best on the edge of what is known 
as the desert, and all that is lacking is the rainfall. The 
northern limit of the growth of these clovers has not yet been 
determined. It is safe, however, to say that the reports of 
the destruction of these crops by freezing during the severe 
winters in many cases are the result of not understanding the 
nature of the plant, which is that of a biennial or short peren- 
nial and when used as a hay crop would naturally disappear 
at the second year whether the winters were favorable or un- 
favorable. * 

The white, trifoliiim repens, has even a wider distribu- 
tion than the mammoth and common red, {trifolium pratense), 

* Note. — It is more than probable that under the name of common red 
clover we have several varieties of tri/olium, some of which are biennials 
and some short Derennials. 



14 CLOVER CULTURE. 

being able to grow on soils on which the larger varieties do 
not succeed and to grow on all soils in which they do. 

Thealsike, {trifolium hybridiim) ^\s, distributed less wide- 
ly, mainly because to grow a profitable crop it requires a 
much larger amount of moisture and it is especially valuable for 
wet lands where none of the other varieties succeed so well. 
It takes its technical name from the mistaken belief of the 
earlier botanists that it is a hybrid, or cross between the red 
and the white. This has long since been ascertained to be an 
error. The technical name is further objectionable because 
the term "hybrid" is properly applied only to the results of 
those violent crosses such as that of the ass and the horse, of 
which Nature forbids the reproduction. Alsike is preferred 
to the mammoth or common red, not only on wet sloughs, 
but on soils where it is believed that these varieties winter- 
kill. We are inclined to the belief that its preference in 
northern latitudes is due not so much to any peculiar ability 
to stand extreme cold, but to the fact that unlike the two 
former, it is perennial, and hence does not ordinarily perish 
at the end of the second year. The illustrations that will be 
furnished when we come to discuss the best methods of the 
cultivation of each will enable the reader to clearly distin- 
guish these different varieties. 

Alfalfa is the clover peculiarly adapted to the .semi-arid 
regions and to the arid regions where irrigation is possible It 
is entirely true that it can be cultivated on any good corn 
lands, that are not underlaid with rock, hard pan or heavy clay, 
provided it is protected during the first winter in northern 
latitudes, but when thus grown is much inferior to' the mam- 
moth or common red in latitudes where these can be grown 
profitably, and hence its cultivation under these circumstances 
is not advisable. It is, however, to be preferred to any other 
in the regions of deficient rainfall, or where the rainfall, how- 
ever abundant, in any given year, cannot be depended upon 
for a succession of years. It has been grown very successfully 
over Central and Western' Kansas, every county in the state 
but three reporting more or less alfalfa, and these counties 
lying in the eastern part of the state where red clover is 
so pronounced a success that farmers do not need to look fur- 
ther. The extreme length of its root enables it to go down 
in the years of sufficient rainfall to depths where it is in a 
measure independent of surface moisture, and the normal dry- 
ness of the climate furnishes the condition for curing it into 
excellent hay, a difficulty that is almost, insuperable in sec- 



CLOVER CULTURE. 15 

tions of the country which enjoy an abundant rainfall in the 
months of June and July. It is therefore in the semi-arid re- 
gions 4he best of all substitutes for other clovers. 

The great value of alfalfa lies in its adaptability to the 
arid lands of the mountains and the plains and the lands that 
have a winter rainfall and summer drouth as on the Pacific 
Coast. It is possible under these circumstances to cut three, 
four and even five crops in a single year, irrigation furnish- 
ing the moisture and the dryness of the atmosphere making- 
the curing the crop entirely practicable. This will be more 
fully explained when we come to discuss the proper method 
of handling this crop. 

Much has been said in recent years, and particularly by 
the Bastern press, of the value of crimson clover, trifolium 
incarnatum. This, unlike those previously mentioned, is an 
annual clover, the seed being sown in July or August and 
maturing early in the spring. It is therefore peculiarly adap- 
ted to the soils along the latitude of 40 degrees and south, 
and should not be attempted on the soils of the corn belt of 
the Northern states. Utterly valueless as it is in these soils, 
it is of very great value in its peculiar climate, as it can be 
sown in mid-summer, and removed in the spring in time for 
another crop. Its value as a forage plant is much inferior to 
any of the other clovers, and it is therefore adapted only for 
local cultivation in soils and climates specially suitable to its 
growth. 




THE RED AND MAMMOTH CLOVERS. 



CHAPTER III. 



There is, perhaps, no agricultural subject in which the 
farmers, especially of the Western states, are more deeply in- 
terested than the cultivation of these two varieties of clover. 
In taking this deep interest they are but following in the 
wake of farmers in other countries. The cultivation of these 
clovers comes in everywhere, apparently, in the wake of the 
soil-robber. After lands have been exhausted of their virgin 
fertility, their owners begin to enquire how the lost fertility 
can be restored, and no means has yet been discovered so cer- 
tain and reliable as the cultivation of red and mammoth clo- 
ver. The Western states are now where the Eastern states 
were forty or fifty years ago, and where England was in 1633. 
In Sir Richard Weston's report on the Husbandry of Brabant 
and Flanders, published by Hartlib in 1645, we' have some 
interesting statements as to the cultivation of clover at that 
time, both with regard to its object and methods, from which 
we quote as follows: 

"It thrives best when you sow it on the worst and barren- 
est ground. The ground has to be pared and burned and un- 
slacked lime added to the ashes. It is next to be plowed and 
harrowed ; and about ten pounds of clover seed must be sown 
to the acre in April or the end of March. If it is intended to 
preserve seed then the second crop must be let stand until it 
come to a full and dead ripeness and it will yield at least five 
bushels per acre. Being once sown, it will last five years; 
and then being plowed it will yield, three or four years to- 
gether, rich crops of wheat, and after that a crop of oats, with 
which clover is to be sown again. It is in itself an excellent 
manure." 



CLOVER CULTURE. 17 

The cultivation of clover seems to have spread as rapidly 
in England as it has in the Mississippi states of America in 
the last few years, for in less than twelve years, that is, before 
1655, its cultivation, exactly according to the present method, 
seems to have been well known in England, and had also 
made its way to Ireland. The little change that has been 
made in the methods of cultivating clover in that country 
would seem to indicate that those early farmers had hit ott 
about the right method. When a method does reasonably 
well, there is no inducement to change, and it is only when this 
method fails that farmers are forced to a more profound study 
of the principles involved. In the moist climate of England 
and of Flanders, and in the comparatively moist climate of the 
Eastern states, surface-sown clover, and especially when sown 
on winter wheat or rye, in the months of February or March, 
did reasonably well, but when it was tried on the lighter and 
drier soils of the West, and especially on spring grains, sown 
generally in April, the failures in securing a stand became 
very much more frequent. Farmers in these newer coun- 
tries have, therefore, been compelled to get hold of the great 
principles that underlie the growth of clover in any and all 
countries and apply them to tiieir own particular circumstan- 
ces. Five things are essential to plant life: A soil that has 
all the elements of fertility essential to the life ot that plant; 
that soil in a proper physical and mechanical condition, and 
in addition to these two, light, heat and moisture. No mat- 
ter how fertile the soil, or how abundant may be the elements 
of Tertility especially adapted to the plant, no plant will even 
germinate in utter darkness. For this reason clover bedded 
in a manure heap, with every element of fertility needed and 
with abundance of moisture and heat, will not germinate ex- 
cept where it lies near the surface and secures the proper de- 
gree of light. No matter what may be the light, moisture, 
or fertility, plants will not germinate at zero nor where the 
temperature is continually below the point of freezing. No 
matter how suitable the temperature, the sunshine or the fer- 
tility, they will not germinate without sufficient moisture, 
and no matter how CQmpletely all these elements are com- 
bined they will not make a profitable growth unless the soil 
is in a proper mechanical condition to meet the requirements 
of the plant. It is only by the proper combination of all 
these essentials that success is attained. 

Of all the multitude of elements that enter into the com- 
position of the clover plant, all soils have an inexhaustible 



IS CLOVER CULTURE. 

quantity, with the exception of three or perhaps four. These 
are potash, phosphoric acid, nitrogen and perhaps lime. It 
is, however, very hard to find a soil so deficient in nitrogen 
that it will not grow clover. Clover has been grown in ex- 
perimental pots of pure sand, from which every element of 
fertility has been washed out, and to which potash and phos- 
phoric acid in their proper proportions have been added, and 
the only difference observable between their yield and that of 
similar plots rich in nitrogen, as well as the other elements, is 
during the brief period when the nitrogen in the seed has 
been exhausted and before the action of the microbes in the 
nodules or tubercles on the roots has been fully established. 
These experiments, of which we shall hereafter have much 
to say in detail, show conclusively that clover is less depend- 
ent on the nitrogen in the soil than almost any other plant, 
the only other exceptions in fact being other members of the 
legiitninosae^ to which order, as we have before said, clover be- 
longs. 

It will be noticed in the above extract from Weston that 
clover apparently did best on poor soils, a fact then inexplica- 
ble but which, it is well understood now, is not due to the 
poverty of the soil, but to its ability to supply itself with ni- 
trogen, of which these soils are deficient, from the great source 
of nitrogen, the atmosphere. It is, therefore, one of the pecul- 
iarties of t<fie clovers and one of their greatest merits, that 
they are less particular about the first condition of plant life, — 
the fertility of the soil — in nitrogen, than any other true grass- 
es or grains. It is, therefore, almost impossible to find a soil 
in the Western states so far deficient in nitrogen that it will 
not grow clover, and it is almost as difficult to find one on our 
drift soils so far deficient in phosphoric acid, lime or potash. 
The question, therefore, as to whether the soil is rich enough 
to grow red and mammoth clover may as well be dismissed. 

In the matter of the mechanical or physical condition of the 
soil, the red and mammoth clovers are as accommodating as 
are the other grasses. None of them require the garden cul- 
ture demanded by most grains. They go on reproducing 
themselves in the pasture — where the plants are allowed to go 
to seed — year after year, and thi sself-seeding in the meadow 
or the pasture goes on successfully where careful seeding in 
the well-tilled field often fails. In fact, we have often seen 
clover sown on the wild prairie, when pastured closely with 
cattle or sheep, make a perfect stand while it almost con:- 
pletely failed when sown on spring grain, on improved land 



CLOVER CULTURE. 19 

adjoining, in the best possible condition for the growth of the 
cereals. Why it is, we shall see when we come to speak more 
particularly of the conditions of light and moisture. 

Nor is there any difficulty in growing these clovers on 
account of temperature. The season attends to that. The 
success or failure in growing clover depends on skill 
in regulating the mechanical condition so as to secure light 
and moisture. 

The reader may learn much on this subject by examining 
the germination of clover seeds in an old stack of clover hay 
in May and June. He will find that on the outside, no matter 
how abundant the seed, it does not germinate, for the reason 
that while it has light and heat, it has no moisture. By lift- 
ing up the edge of the hay he will find that a certain distance 
inward it germinates freely, but beyond that a certain distance 
it does not germinate at all, simply because the proper com- 
bination of light, heat and moisture is not present. Success 
lies in getting the light and moisture in the soil in the combi- 
nation supplied in the stack at the point where the germina- 
tion is perfect. Given, then, almost any kind of soil that will 
produce a moderate crop of spring grain of any kind, how 
shall we secure a stand of clover that will hold against possible 
drouth for the first ninety days? This is the point to be con- 
sidered in determining the very first question in growing 
these clovers, the depth at which they shall be covered. 
After the first ninety days they are safe against anything ex- 
cept the extreme drouths. We are satisfied that nine-tenths 
of the failures in growing clover, about which we hear so 
much, and especially on the lighter soils of the West, depend 
upon the lack of proper covering in order to secure the condi- 
tions requisite tor vigorous germination and the support of the 
life of the plant during the first three months of its existence. 
The management will, of course, depend upon the kind of 
grain crop in the soil. If it is intended to grow on land al- 
ready in winter wheat and rye, the custom of sowing early in 
March can not well be improved. No matter how early it 
may be sown, it will not germinate until the season gives the 
right temperature. The freezing and thawing of the ground 
gradually imbeds the seed in the soil and growth is all the 
quicker because of the shallowness of the covering. Begin- 
ning at the commencement of the growing season, it is able 
to strike its roots deep in the soil and to stand any probable 
drouth in the earlier part of the year. Success will be all the 
more certain if the nurse crop is rye, for the reason that the 



20 CLOVER CULTURE. 

narrow blades of the rye give the young clover plant plenty of 
air and sunshine. There are few soils and few seasons in any 
country, in which clover growing is practicable, in which a 
fine stand of clover can not be obtained by sowing on rye 
in March, and then pasturing off the crop with sheep, hogs 
or cattle. The best success is obtained by pasturing with the 
two former, and, if cattle are used, the lighter they are the bet- 
ter. Some little damage will be done the clover by tramping 
with heavy cattle, especially in wet weather, but we have found 
by experience that the advantages in securing the more per- 
fect covering of the seed by treading are much greater than 
the disadvantages. Clover sometimes fails of a stand when 
sown on winter wheat, for the reason that a crust is likely to 
form on the top, especially if the month of March be dr}-, and 
the ground deficient in moisture and the seeds therefore do 
not become sufficiently imbedded. This may be remedied to 
a very great extent by harrowing the ground after the clover 
has been sown. In this way sufficient covering can be se- 
cured and the benefits to the wheat will far more than com- 
pensate for the labor. Success would be all the more certain 
if in a dry time a heavy roller were used, thus compressing 
the soil around the roots of the wheat as well as the seeds of 
the clover. It requires, however, a good deal of sound judg- 
ment and discretion to use the roller in a country subject to 
high winds. 

When sown with spring grain, the problem is much more 
difficult. The season is necessarily later and care must be 
taken at all hazards to bury the clover deep enough to secure 
moisture, and not too deep to exclude light'. Just how deep 
dover should be covered is a problem that can be determined 
Duly by the farmer himself. Everything depends upon the 
season and upon the nature of the soil. The lighter the soil 
and the drier the season the deeper must the seed be covered. 
Untold damage has been done to the clover interests of the 
Western states by the publication in works that are regarded 
as standard authority, and copied into the agricultural news- 
papers, of the depths at which clover germinates best and re- 
fuses to germinate. Prof Flint in his work on Grasses and 
Forage Plants^ quoting from a treatise on grass by the Messrs. 
Lawson, the noted seedsmen of Edinburgh, states that the red 
clover germinates best at a depth of from nothing to one-half 
inch; that half the seeds germinate from one and one-quarter 
to one and one-half, and that none of the seeds germinate 
when covered to the depth of two inches. This is no doubt 



CLOVER CULTURF. 21 

line for the climate and soil of Edinburgh, and to some ex- 
tent true in the moister climate of the Eastern states, but it 
is entirely misleading and false on the light soils and driei 
climate of the West. Acting upon this advice Western farm- 
ers have adopted the methods of surface sowing common in 
Europe and in the Eastern states and have been grievously 
disappointed. Clover sown on our own farms by this method 
has failed to germinate the first year, and sometimes the sec- 
ond, coming up as a full crop in the third year where the 
ground has been undisturbed, and that for the simple reason 
that the supply of moisture was deficient, for the lack of suf- 
ficient covering in dry seasons. The clover simply waited 
until there was sufficient moisture to secure germination. 
Mr. Jethro Tull, an English gentleman who wrote a book on 
Horse-Hoeing Husbandry, published in 1731, has a paragraph 
which incidentally refers to the depth of covering, which is 
worth quoting. Speaking of his experience in drilling plants 
in rows for the purpose of using the horse-hoe, he says: "I 
was formerly at much pains and at some charge in improving 
my drills in planting the rows at very near distances and had 
brought them to such perfection that one horse would draw 
a drill with eleven shares, making the rows at three and one- 
half inches distant from one another, and at the same time 
sow in them three different sorts of seeds which did not mix 
and these, too, at different depths, x'ls the barley rows were 
seven inches asunder, the barley lay four inches deep. A 
little more than three inches above that in the same channels 
was clover; betwixt every two of these rows was a row of san- 
foin covered one-half inch deep. I had a good crop of barley 
the first year; the next year two crops of broad clover, where 
that was sown; and where hop clover was sown, a mixed crop 
of that and sanfoin, but I am since, by experience, so fully 
convinced of the folly of these or any other mixed crops, and 
more especially of narrow spaces, that I have demolished 
these instruments in their full perfection, as a vain curiosity, 
the drift and use of them being contrary to the true principles 
and practice of horse hoeing." 

It will be seen from the above that even in the moist cli- 
mate of England clover succeeded well when covered almost 
an inch deep, and the practice was abundant, not on account 
of the failure to grow clover but because the narrow spaces 
between the drills of the different seeds did not allow the 
practical operation of the horse-hoe. In view of the import- 
.auce of this question at the present time in the Western 



22 CLOVER CULTURE. 

states, we requested Prof. Wilson, of the Iowa Experiment 
Station, at Ames, Iowa, to determine the depth at which clo- 
ver grew best in the light soil of the College farm. He has 
kindly furnished us the results of this experiment, as follows: 

"The College Experiment Station sowed red clover at 
different depths in the spring of 1892, to ascertain the effect 
on germination. The spring was late, owing to repeated 
rains that prevented seeding. The land used is a dark, sandy 
loam that had been in barley the previous year, and had been 
fall-plowed. Plots a rod square were used and the seeding 
was done on the ninth of April. A plot was sowed broadcast 
on the surface and raked in. A plot was sown in drills one 
inch deep. A plot was sown in drills two inches deep, and 
one three inches deep. The seed sown broadcast was above 
the ground and a good stand April 25th; that sown an inch 
deep was also a good stand April 25th; that sown two inches 
deep was through the ground only partly on the 25th of April, 
while that sown three inches deep was as good a stand as any 
on the 27th of April. 

The season was favorable to germination and growth of 
grass seeds. Rains were abundant during both spring and 
summer. On July 20th the four different plots were very 
similar, being about eight inches high and ready to cut for 
hay. That sown three inches deep was the most vigorous of 
any. The plots were hoed between the rows and kept free 
from weeds. Several other grasses were sown simultaneously 
with the clover that showed quite different results, but depth 
of sowing in this case raises no decisive objection to any of 
the depths at which the seeds were sown. 

It may be well to state that the soil used is entirely free 
from any trace of clay, consequently it does not pack as much 
as some lands in the state, while it is not as loose a soil as the 
bluff deposit of the Missouri slope. Repeated experiments 
must be made to determine the effect of different depths of 
sowing in dry seasons. The indications so far, with the wet- 
test season for some years, are that clover seed germinates as 
promptly at a depth of three inches as at a depth of one inch 
where the frost is out of the ground and the temperature is 
the same, and further, that there is no evident weakening of 
the young plants when the seed is sown three inches deep. 

Contemporaneous with the foregoing it may be observed 
that the station sowed peas from three to five inches deep, 
and while the latter sowing was longer in coming up, yet at 



CLOVER CULTURE. • 23 

this writiug, July 15th, there is no apparent difference in the 
vigor of the sowings." 

For two years past we have called attention of the farm- 
ers of the West through the Homestead to this important mat- 
ter, and their experience as reported from time to time largely 
pletely verifies the results of the experiment above quoted. 
The most successful clover growers in the West, and especial- 
ly in the light soils of the Missouri valley, sow their clover 
with their spring grain and give it the same depth of cover- 
ing. The almost universal custom is to cover either with the 
ordinary corn cultivator or with the disc cultivator, which in 
farm practice would give clover a covering of from one-fourth 
of an inch to two inches. The results of their experience, 
however, are not uniform, the failures being the exception, 
and success the rule. As an example of the very rare excep- 
tions we give the following from Mr. George Geary, of Win- 
terset, Iowa. In response to a letter of inquiry Mr. Geary 
writes: 

"In the spring of 1892 I sowed a field to clover about ten 
days before sowing the oats. The oats were sown about the 
3rd or 4th of April. It was disced twice, after the oats were 
sown and then harrowed twice. I can not tell how deep it 
was covered. The oats, however, all grew and none of the 
clover except at the head-lands, which were not so well culti- 
vated, where a few plants appeared. On the head-lands the 
clover was not sown until after the discing was done. It was 
then harrowed and floated. After giving the matter full con- 
sideration I think the trouble was not in the deep covering, 
but because the clover sod had sprouted before the ground 
was cultivated, and this cultivation destroyed it. If this were 
not the case, some of it would have grown, no matter how 
deeply it was covered." 

It is therefore extremely doubtful whether even in this 
case the failure of the stand in this field was due to the deep 
covering or to the fact that the clover had sprouted and was 
then destroyed by the tillage. It should be stated in this con- 
nection that many farmers who harrow in clover in corn 
stalks sow the clover seed a week or two in advance, and 
where the covering is not so deep as that practiced by Mr. 
Geary they have had good success. The advantage in sow- 
ing in advance is that it gives the clover time to take up 
moisture and swell and secures a quicker germination than 
when sowed with the oats or spring grain. In case of dry 
weather at the time of cultivation, it might prove hazardous. 



24 • CLOVER CULTURE 

Mr. Geary's farm lies on the edge of the timber and is, 
therefore, a much heavier soil than the prairie lands in the im- 
mediate vicinity. Besides, it rests on a very heavy bed of 
limestone, and the conditions of that farm are somewhat simi- 
lar to the conditions on the heavy clay soils of the Eastern 
states. It is not, therefore, surprising that deep covering does 
not always succeed on that or like conditions even in the 
West. All this emphasizes the necessity of each farmer, no 
matter where his location may be, determining by actual ex- 
periment on his own farm the depth at which clover seed 
germinates best in an ordinary season. This will vary with 
the normal amount of rainfall in the spring months and the 
mechanical condition and character of the soil. The lighter 
the soil the deeper should clover be covered, and there are 
many parts of the West in which it should not be placed at 
less than two inches. 

It must be remembered that in discussing the depths of 
covering at which clover does best, we are speaking solely 
with reference to land in cultivation in small grain, and 
not with reference to land in other grasses, whether wild or 
tame. A moment's reflection will convince anyone that deep- 
er covering is required in soil in condition for the reception 
of small grains than in soil that is already compacted by the 
weather. For this reason clover requires a much shallower 
covering when sown on winter wheat or rye than when sown 
on newly cultivated land, on which spring grain has been sown. 

We have devoted much space to the depth at which red 
and mammoth clover should be covered when sown with spring 
grain, for the reason that the proper depth of covering is one 
of the first conditions of success, and we are persuaded that 
most failures in growing these clovers have been due to the 
fact that farmers have not fully comprehended the first prin- 
ciples, and thus have failed to apply them to their particular 
conditions and circumstances. 

Whether common red or mammoth clover should be 
selected for sowing depends altogether upon the rotation of 
crops that he has adopted and the objects for which the clover 
is grown. On good, rich land, where a crop of hay is desired, 
and where fall pasture is an important consideration, the com- 
mon red is to be preferred. This is especially the case in regions 
where there are no insect enemies, such as the clover-root worm, 
the clover midge, the thrips or the clover hay worm. In the ab- 
sence of these pests, if it is desirable to secure a crop of clover 
hay and the question of seed is less important than an abun- 



CLOVER CULTURE. 25 

dant aftermath, we advise in every case to select the common 
red, as there are probably two or three varieties, different in 
the coloi" of the blossom, in size and in maturity, and it would 
not be difficult by selection to develop a variety with pure, 
white blossoms, another with deep red and still others with 
minor shades, and with essential differences in growth and 
in the time of maturity. Possibly in the near future this may 
be done. These differences would seem to indicate that the 
mammoth was the original type, and that the different varie- 
ties of common red are simply variations from this type, the 
eflfect of soil and climate, or in other words, of environment. 

As stated in a previous chapter, we regard the mammoth 
simply as a late-maturing variety of the red, and not a differ- 
ent species. The differences between them were regarded by 
Linnaeus as sufficient to justify a different classification, and 
he styled the common red, trifolium prateiise and the ms^m.- 
\noth. trifolium mediuin. According to Prof W. J. Beal, of the 
Chair of Botany in the Michigan Agricultural College, in his 
standard work on the grasses, page 346, the two species 
freely cross, and show all grades of intermediate forms. 
This would indicate that the distinctions are not so great as 
to justify the earlier classification. We have, therefore, in 
this work, where minute scientific accuracy is not the aim ex- 
cept in so far as it seems essential to the practical guidance of 
the farmer, treated them as different forms of one species, 
without presuming to settle the question as to whether the 
distinction heretofore made is scientifically correct or not. 
The original differences may be seen by comparing the illus- 
trations on pages 28 and 29, as taken from Sudlow. It 
might, however, be somewhat difficult to find in any field o 
mixed Mammoth and common red clover two plants that vary 
quite as widely as the two illustrations. 

On farms where the main object m growmg clover is to 
increase fertility, where it is not essential to secure a crop of 
hay from every seeding of clover, and where it is desired to 
procure a reasonably certain crop of seed as a money crop, the 
mammoth should be preferred. The mammoth may also be 
used with advantage on thin soils, and especially at their first 
seeding, for the reason that on these soils it does not develop, 
to the same extent at least, the objection that is urged against 
it where on ordinary soils a hay crop is to be secured. This 
objection is that it grows so rank and lodges so early that the 
lower foot or eighteen inches of the stock becomes black and 
entirely void of leaves and that the stalk is so coarse that it 



20 CLpVER CULTURE. 

is difficult to cure and is largely rejected by live stock. These 
objections do not apply where it is not desirable to secure a 
hay crop. Many farmers are so situated that they prefer to 
grow both in separate fields, the medium red for hay, after- 
math and fertility, and the mammoth for securing with rea- 
sonable certainty a crop of seed. In this case they sow timothy 
with the mammoth and cut the first crop for seed, sometimes 
mowing or pasturing it off until the first weeks of June for the 
purpose of getting rid of the lower foot of the stalk and also 
for the purpose of securing more abundant stooling. A crop 
of seed is then taken about the ist of September and theafter- 
math of timothy and clover is allowed to grow for the pur- 
pose ot pasture. About two-thirds of the stalks of the mam- 
moth clover die out the year after sowing, and the result is 
usually a very heavy crop the next year, about two-thirds 
timothy and one-third clover. The clover being at its best 
at the same time as the timothy, the crop of hay resulting is 
of a very fine quality, and comes in at a time when the best 
<:onditions are usually present for curing it in its best estate. 
It is very important, however, when growing timothy for 
seed to secure seed free from admixture with the common 
red and to sow it on soil not self-seeded with the latter 
variety. 

In sections of the country where the insect enemies of 
clover are abundant it is advisable to discontinue the growth 
of common red for a time and- take the mammoth in prefer- 
ence, with all its disadvantages. All the insect pests with 
which we are acquainted that infest the blossoms of clover, 
produce two broods in the season, the first at the time of the 
first bloom of red clover, and the second at the time of the sec- 
ond bloom. By using the mammoth the fly of these pests 
has no opportunity to deposit its eggs, and hence no second 
crop is possible on that field. This is likely to be a very im- 
portant consideration in the West when the growth of clover 
is fully established. 

While the mammoth is far inferior to the medium red as 
a hay crop, and therefore we do not advise its cultivation 
where a hay crop is the main object, it has very important ad- 
vantages to the farmer who has exhausted the fertility of his 
land by long years of cultivation in wheat, corn, oats oxjlax^ 
and who is not in shape either to buy live stock or to provide 
the shelter necessary to keep them at a profit. In such cases 
as this we advise the sowing of mammoth clover with every 
crop of spring grain, even though it be the intention to plow 



CLOVER CULTURE. 



zi 



it up the succeeding yea-r. The seed crop of mammoth clo- 
ver is about as certain as any other farm crop, while the seed 
crop of the common red is one of the most precarious of crops, 
unless the first cutting be made at the right time. It is rea- 
sonably certain when the first crop is cut the last ten days of 
June. Under Western conditions this is not always, nor in- 
deed usually, possible. It is also liable to be greatly injured 
by an early frost. 

These objections do not apply to the mammoth which 
matures its seed crop about the ist of September in the lati- 
tude of Central Iowa and Nebraska, and, owing to the high 
temperature of the season, can be cured rapidly and threshed 
easily. The yield is from two to six bushels per acre, which 
at present prices is equal as a cash crop to any other. The 
farmer, therefore, can by the use of mammoth clover restore 
the fertility ot the soil for the time being without incurring 
the expense of investing in cattle, fences or barns, and to him 
it is invaluable. Where the object is pasturage, we would 
prefer sowing mixed seed in about equal proportions for the 
obvious reason that, plants beingat their best about the period 
of bloom, the season of continuous bloom is prolonged, mam- 
moth clover coming in bloom two or three weeks later 
than the^common red. By using this method there can be a 
constant succession of clover bloom from May until frost. 
Keeping in mind these two peculiarities of the two different 
varieties, the reader will be able to determine for himseli 
which is best adapted to the soil, climate and the character 
of his farm operations. 

The question of the amount of seed per acre whether 
alone or mixed with each other, or with other grass seeds and 
the best method of sowing will be discussed fully in a subse- 
quent chapter. 



28 



CLOVER CULTURE! 




COMMON RED CLOVER. {7 ri/ol mm pretense.) 



CLOVER CULTURE. 



29 




MAMMOTH CLOVER. {Tn folium medium.} 



ALFALFA. 

CHAPTER IV. 

While the red and mammoth clovers are justly regarded 
^s the sheet anchor of the farmer in the sections of country to 
which they are adapted, there is a point westward where, 
by reason of deficient rainfall, their cultivation ceases to be 
practicable or profitable. There is also a southern limit be- 
yond which, by reason of the deficiency of lime in the soil and 
of the long continued summer heat, they cease to be reliable. 
We have before noted — so important does she seem to consider 
the clover family to the welfare of the race — that Nature 
provides some member of the family to meet the wants 
of almost every soil and climate adapted to either tillage or 
pasturage. This want is met to a very great extent, on the Paci- 
fic coast of America, in the mountain valleys, on the great 
plains, and on the Southern and along the Eastern Atlantic 
coasts round to where it meets the red clover, by the alfalfa. 
While not belonging to the same species as the ordinary clo- 
vers, it has the same general characteristics and economic 
values. It has the same three-cleft leaf and characteristic 
pea blossom, as will be seen by the illustration on the follow- 
ing page, the same power of assimilating nitrogen from the 
atmosphere, an even higher ratio of albuminoids to carbo- 
hydrates and therefore a similar feeding value. It is not a 
trifolium but a medicago and belongs to the same class as the 
bur clover of California and the western plains. 

In its origin it antedates history. It has been traced 
back to the ancient kingdoms of Media and Persia and we 
have no doubt that when Nebuchednezzar was testing the 
value on Daniel and his companionsof the legumes or "pulse," 
as food for young statesmen, alfalfa was growing luxuriantly on 
the royal farms on the banks of the rivers of Babylon. It was 



CLOVER CULTURE. 



31 




ALFALFA. {Medicago sativa.) 



32 CLOVER CULTUKll.. 

brought to Greece during the Persian war about 470 B. C, 
thence to Italy; and it naturally followed the march of the all- 
conquering legions to France, Spain and Portugal. The 
Spaniards brought it with them to the new world and it soon 
became established along the La Plata and in Chili in South 
America, whence it was brought to California. Its very great 
value under irrigation having been recognized, it soon be- 
came established in the mountain valleys and on the plains. 
Of late years farmers are beginning to recognize its value as a 
substitute for clover on lands that are not susceptible of ir- 
rigation, and now it may almost be regarded as a maxim that 
where clover ends alfalfa begins, limited only in the practical 
application of the maxim to soils that have a sub-soil suit- 
able for alfalfa. 

Alfalfa has travelled under various names. While its bo- 
tanical name ismedicago saiiva it is knownin European coun- 
tries as "lucerne," from the city of Luce»ne, in Switzerland, 
where it is largely cultivated. The Spaniard named it alfalfa, 
a name said to be ot Arabic origin and this name has natur- 
ally followed the plant to the new world. It has some strik- 
ing peculiarities, one that its stalk is very small in proportion 
to its root, the former growing under favorable conditions 
about two feet in length, the latter measured only by the dis- 
tance to water. It may be anything from five feet to twenty 
feet. 

It has been used for so many ages for the specific purpose 
of a meadow and forage plant that it does not adapt itself 
readily to pasturage, and in order to secure the best results, re- 
quires to be cut as a hay crop whether it be long or short, 
about the time one fourth of the flowers are in bloom, other- 
wise the stalk becomes woody and the value is very greatly 
reduced. It need scarcely be said that a grass cut with such 
an excess of sap is difficult to cure in a climate of great sum- 
mer rainfall, and for this and many other reasons is not adapt- 
ed to the soil and climate wliere clovers can be grown success- 
fully. Thic difficulty of curing the hay is not the only ob- 
stacle in the way of its adoption by farmers who can grow the 
other clovers to perfection. It must have- room to stretch 
out its roots and- hence will not succeed on lands where the 
moisture is near the surface, for the same reason it will not 
succeed on lands that have a subsoil of heavy, impervious 
clay or are underlaid with rock. Requiring several years to 
attain its maxim of usefulness, it does not fie readily into the 
rotations especially the short ones which are so essential to 



CLOVER CULTURE. 33 

diversified agriculture and of which the red and mammoth 
clovers are so integral and essential a part. It cannot endure 
cold winters in soils saturated with water or covered with ice 
during the winter season, and hence, while having a wider 
range than the ordinary clovers, it is almost as rigidly exclud- 
ed from their domain as they are from the domain of alfalfa. 

Alfalfa then has two leading uses, one, and the main one 
as a forage crop in the regions where irrigation is possible, 
and the other as a substitute for the ordinary clovers where 
they fail from lack ot summer moisture. It is the peculiarity 
of arid soils and to a certain extent of the semi-arid, that the 
conditions under which they are deposited prevent the forma- 
tion of heavy clays, thus removing one of the main obstacles 
to the growth of alfalfa. These soils have also comparatively 
rainless summers and therefore provide the conditions for 
curing with dispatch this clover which seems to have been 
designed especially for their benefit. The discussion of the 
growing of alfalfa naturally divides itself into two parts, its 
culture under irrigation and its culture as a substitute for 
other clovers, on soils and in climates where irrigation is not 
practicable and where the latter are not a reliable crop. 

When it is remembered that over more than one third of 
the United States perennial grasses can be grown only by ir- 
rigation the importance of the position sustained by alfalfa 
will be readily recognized. It will grow steadily in popular 
favor when irrigated lands lose their virgin fertility, as they 
will in time, and when therefore it becomes necessary to find 
some method of restoring the wastes of the soil robber. The 
farmer on the plains and mountain valleys and on the Pacific 
coast will then be compelled to call on alfalfa to do for him 
what red clover does for the farmer in the Eastern states and 
on the prairies. 

In the Pacific states and in the mountain valleys it is 
possible, by irrigation, to produce, on suitable land, from ten 
to fifteen tons of alfalfa hay per annum. This alfalfa hay has 
a higher feeding value than that made from any other k^own 
grass grown in the United States. This immense yield is se- 
cured in the southern sections by four or five cuttings dur- 
ing the season; the first crop is taken off" early, the land being 
flooded immediately afterward and soaked to the depth ot sev- 
eral feet. The alfalfa then grows with wonderful vigor and 
in a few weeks is ready to cut again, the extreme dryness of 
the atmosphere and freedom from summer rains rendering it 
possible to handle the crop and secure it in the best condi- 



34 CLOVER CULTURE. 

tion at almost any time during the season. In the more 
northern sections, fewer cuttings are possible and of course 
the yield is less per acre. The hay crop is taken when the 
plant is just coming into bloom and before the stems have 
been converted to woody fiber, to a great extent indigestible. 
When a seed crop is desired one of the latter growths is al- 
lowed to ripen, the yield sometimes reaching as high as ten 
bushels per acre. 

While alfalfa is in the main a forage crop and its princi- 
ple use that of a permanent meadow, it can be pastured with 
safety after it has become well established and its roots have 
penetrated to great depths. It is largely used in this way in 
connection with the ranches of the mountain states, furnish- 
ing, as it does by its last growth, a means of ripening the 
vast herds of cattle that have been carried through the sum- 
mer on the wild grasses of the ranges. It has proven equally 
valuable on the great plains wherever there are suitable facili- 
ties for irrigation, or where by reason of the nature of the 
subsoil the roots ca'i reach down in a year or two to perma- 
nent moisture. It is not at all uncommon, in regions where 
the sheet water or the underflow of the rivers of the plains, 
such as the Arkansas or the Platte, is within reach, to find 
alfalfa flourishing without irrigation after the second or third 
year, or, in other words, after the roots have reached a perma- 
nent supply of water. 

In sowing alfalfa for cultivation under irrigation the soil 
must be well prepared. Alfalfa tolerates no slovenly culture. 
There being no heavy clays in this region and the under soil 
being, to a very great depth, as rich as the -upper, this is a 
comparatively easy matter. The seed is usually sown broad- 
cast at the rate of from fifteen to twenty pounds per acre and 
covered sufficiently to insure germination. 

Should weeds threaten to smother the young plants 
they should be clipped, setting the mower high, and in this 
way the plants are allowed free access to air and sunlight. 
In order to prevent weed growth, alfalfa is sometimes sown in 
drills twelve or fifteen inches apart, and cultivated until per- 
manently established. This is the English method of alfalfa 
culture. 

A stand once secured, it lasts for many years with proper 
care and management. It must not however be either mow- 
ed or pastured until it has become well established. Some- 
times, under very favorable conditions, one or two crops can 
be taken the year it is sown and the second season three, but 



ClyOVER CULTURE. 35 

it is better to allow, as in the case of the other clovers, a good 
start before making any demands on the crop. While alfalfa, 
like all the clovers, is a fertilizing crop and increases the sup- 
ply of nitrogen in the soil, while at the same time producing 
an enormous quantity in the forage, it is not a suitable crop 
for poor, wornout land. It requires good land to start with-. 
Arid and semi-arid soils nearly all have abundant fertility^ 
(owing to the fact that they have not been subject to the leach- 
ing process, so far as nitrogen is concerned , inseparable from 
a sufficient annual rainfall,) to secure vigorous plant life, and 
therefore the main consideration is a proper mechanical con- 
dition of the soil and an abundant artificial supply of mois- 
ture. In soils that are not capable of irrigation the growth 
must be rapid in order that the roots may speedily reach per- 
manent moisture and for this reason the land must be in good 
heart. 

It is easy to see from the above statements what a veri- 
table godsend alfalfa has been to the arid regions of America. 
When the irrigated wheat lands have lost their virgin fertility, 
which is only a question of time, its culture will be greatly 
extended. It will then be used as a rotation grass, as well 
as a source of hay and pasture, the rotation being of necessity 
a long one, on account of the number of years required to se- 
cure a crop that will give the best results. 

Of late years farmers in the semi-arid regions are begin- 
ing to realize the value of alfalfa as a substitute for the clo- 
vers usually grown on regions of sufficient permanent rain- 
fall. It is not easy to locate on the map what, for the purpose 
of this work, should be called the semi-arid region, using the 
term as we do to describe the region west of the Missouri 
where the ordinary clovers cannot be grown as a reasonably 
reliable crop. We have in view that large region east of the 
Rocky Mountains where the methods of farming followed 
over the greater part of the Mississippi Valley, as for instance 
in the states of Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota and the eastern 
portions of Kansas and Nebraska, cannot be followed with 
success. This region may be said to be approximately bound- 
ed on the east by a line which, on the southern border of 
Kansas, begins near the 98th meridian of longitude west from 
Greenwich, and passing thence west of north crosses the Ne- 
braska line near the 100 meridian and continuing in the same 
direction some seventy-five miles into that state, it changes a 
little to the east of north and thence extends into the Dako- 
tas. In this region the limitations as to what crops can and 



36 CLOVER CULTURE. 

what cannot be grown successfully, whether of grain or grass, 
have not been fully determined. It is quite clear that corn 
cannot be depended upon as a paying crop, and the same is 
true, as a rule, of the clovers and other grasses grown farther 
east. The experience of farmers has already determined their 
unprofitableness except in certain favored localities. 

With these important crops stricken from the list, the 
entire aspect of farming changes. Other crops suited to the 
climatic conditions must be found, and even the methods of 
work to which the farmer has been accustomed in other lo- 
calities and under other conditions, materially changed. 
There is no plant that gives promise of greater usefulness to 
the farmers of thatregion than alfalfa, and with a view to giv- 
ing our readers the most reliable information on the subject 
we have requested Prof. Georgeson, of the Kansas Agricul- 
tural College, to contribute to these pages the results of his 
valuable experience and observation, which he has kindly 
consented to do in the following: 

As has been noted elsewhere, alfalfa is a perennial plant. It sends its 
roots deep into the ground, and onco established in a suitable soil, it will 
yield profitable crops for an indefinite number of years. Because of its 
deep rooting nature, it is less dependent upon the rainfall than almost any 
other farm crop. Its wonderful roots, which in some instances have been 
traced thirty feet deep, reaching down far below the influence of loca 
showers and the solar heat, and pumping up moisture from below, sus 
tain the plant in periods of drouth. This feature is greatly in favor of 
alfalfa for that region But what is more to the point, it has been proved 
to be a success both with and without irrigation in this semi-arid region — 
with irrigation producing magnificent yields, and on the uplands withou* 
irrigation, producing an occasional good crop of hay, and at all times bet 
ter pasture than the native grasses afford. In Kansas there are instance 
of its successful culture in nearly every one of the- western counties. 
Particularly is this the case in Ford and Finney counties, where efforts in 
this direction have been more persistent than elsewhere. Along the Ar 
kansas valley in these counties It grows to perfection. 

The prospect of alfalfa growing in the West may be studied under three 
conditions. First, under irrigation. This aspect of the case requires but 
little notice here. With irrigation, whether on upland or lowland, it is 
one of the surest as woll as one of the most profitable crops that can be 
raised, and its 'successful Culture is not at all problemati al. 

Second, on the lowlands without irrigation. Under this condition it is 
also grown successfully, as is testified by thousands of acres now in alfalfa 
in western Kansas. But the success, that is, the yield, varies with the 
situation. A very large proportion of the bottom lands in that reation 
have a porous, sandy subsoil, through which the water of the streams 
percolate with ease for long distances, forming what i> known as "sheet 
water." This water is, in some places, very near the surface, in others it 
is ten, twelve, or more feet below. On such lands, where the roots pene- 
trate with ease to the water, alfalfa is successfully grown without irriga- 
tion. 

Third, on uplands and without irrigation. It is especially this aspect 
of the case that commands our attention, because, at best, but a small 
fraction of the country is made up of valley lands of the above character. 



CLOVER CULTURE. 37 

There are a hundred acres of dry upland 'o one of bottomland. Land 
that Is in Itself very fertile, wifh a beautiful, gently undulating surface, 
but which is hopelessly beyond the reach of any system of irrigation, and 
which Owing to the dry climate with an average rain fall of less than 
twenty inches, cannot be cultivatea as farms are cultivated further east. 
Can alfalfa be grown here? The answer is a qualified affirmative. Actual 
trials in many placos have demonstrated that alfalfa can be grown on 
these dry uplands, but the yield in forage is not to be compared with the 
yield in the lowlands. In the first place, the obtaining of a good stand is 
attended with more difficulties. If the rain in the early part of May is 
sufficient only to terminate the seed, but not enough to sustain the young 
plants till they get a foot hold, the stand will be light, and at times it may 
require two or more seedings before the crop is well launched. Again j 
the growtli the first year is feeble, and nothing, either in the way of pasj 
ture or hay, can reasonably be expected from it the first season; no pas- 
ture, because it would kill the crop to turn the stock on it, and no hay 
because the growth is too light. The second, third and succeeding years 
it will > ield increasingly good pasture, but it is only in favorable seasons 
that it will produce fair hay crops. Under the conditions named it is, 
however, a great thing for the plant to live and yield pasturage, for as 
pasturage it far exceeds the wild grasses both in quantity and quality. 
There is no better pasture for horses, hogs and sheep, nor indeed for cat- 
tle, except that it sometimes causes them to bloat. This upland alfalfa 
has one other good feature — it yields seed of superior quality, even though 
only in moderate quantity. Combining these features — good pasture, an 
occasional hay crop and a sure producer of good seed — and add to this 
its manurial properties, which, as we shall see, is by no means its least 
virtue, we have in alfalfa a better forage plant for the western plains 
than any other parenniil that hns yet been brought to our notice. 

The claims here made are moderate. Oftentimes it will exceed the re- 
sults here promised. In favorable seasons the crop may be started with 
ease even on the unbroken prairie. The Hon. R. P. Kelly, of Eureka, 
Kansas, who is a close observer and an accomplished scientist, informs me 
that he has seen a ca?*^ in point which is worth noting here. On a large 
ranch in Meade county, ai/out three hundred acres of creek bott'^m were 
sown to alfalfa. It grew well and yielded abundantly. On one occasion 
thp crop was cut late, part of it having matured seed. This hay was fed 
to a large herd of cattle during the fall and winter, and for that purpose 
was spread over quite a large area of the adjoining slopes and upland. To 
the surprise of the owners, as well as to -all others who subsequently saw 
it, the seed thus scattered on the pra'rie sod took root the following spring 
and made a good and permanent stand of alfalfa. Another almost iden- 
tical case happened in another place and has been related to me by the 
owner of the pasture. If such accidents lead to success, what is to hinder 
the same results being attained with the judicious use of proper imple- 
ments and a good supply of seed ? 

There are places where alfalfa cannot grow, regardless of climate. 
Wherever there is an impervious clay, the so called "gumbo," or a layer 
of hardpan, or rock within a few feet of the surface, it will be a total 
failure if on the uplands, and but a very indifferfint success on the bot- 
tom lands. Likewise on the bottom lands, where the soil water stands 
too near the surface, or where it is overflowed for considerable periods, 
alfalfa should not be sown. 

For successful seeding prepare a good seed bed by whatever m'-ans 
may ho found most expedient In most cases I should prefer to plow in 
the fall; or, in sections of lieht soil with dry and windy winters, early in 
spring. Pulverize the surface well, and do not sow the seed in this ele- 
vated western region until the latter part of April, or the beginning of 
M.iy. Late frosts are liable to occur here, and these sometimes nip the 



38 CLOVER CULTURE. 

young plants severely if they germinate too early. On the uplands 1 
would sow not less than twenty- live pounds "f seed to the acre, and on 
the low lands, twenty pounds. &ow broadcast, either by hand, or with a 
grass seed attachment to a drill or disc harrow. )ver the seed well with 
some implement that suits the nature of the soil. If sown by hand the 
di<»c harrow, run shallow, will afford the ""est covering; then apply a 
heavy roller. On the uplands it should always be sown by itself. If 
sown with oats, barl'y, or the like, the young plants are apt to be killed 
by exposure to the sun aftT the "nurse crop" has been removed. On 
Irrigated land ther < is but little danger of this kind, and the seed Is gen- 
erally sown with some spring crop. I p'^efer, in all cases, to sow broad- 
cast. When young or n'lwly cut the gi'ound is not then so exposed to the 
scorching sun as when it stands in rows. 

The first year is always the most precarious period. No stock should 
ever be allowed on it that year and care should be taken that it is not 
choked out by weeds. To kill these run over the ground two or three 
times with the mower during the season and set the finger-bar high, 
especially the first time, to avoid injuring the young plants. On the 
uplands a second year of this treatment may occasionally be necessary. 
Wh«n pastured, care should be taken that it is not over-stocked; for, if 
In addition to a drouth and a weary search for water on the part of the 
roots, It is kept grazed to the ground, the crop will be brought to an 
untimely end. It makes one of the best pastures for hogs imaginable, 
but for the good of the crop they should not be put on till it is thoroughly 
established. They should be prevented from rooting by ringing their 
noses and they should not be kept on long enough at. a time to injure it. 

For hay the crop should be cut every time it comes in bloom, no mat- 
ter what its height may be. It does not grow any taller after it begins to 
bloom, and if allowed to go to seed it will drop its leaves, and, moreover, 
will make little or no growth after that for the rest of the year. Cut it 
when about one-fourth in bloom. The hay is very brittle, and the leaves, 
the best part of it, break off easily in handling. To diminish this waste 
it must be cured with care. The best practice is to rake in the afternoon 
what has been c it in the forenoon, put it into good sized cocks and let it 
cure there thoroughly before it is stacked. If the crop is light and the 
sun strong, the rake may follow soon after the mower. If dried too 
much in the swath, the'*e will be little besides the dry stalks left when 
the crop is raked. To keep alfalfa hay well the staci must be covered, 
or it must be housed. It does not shed rain well and a single soaking 
rain will cause it to mould and spoil. Growers of alfalfa in western Kan- 
sas prefer, for these reasons, to dispose of the crop as soon as possible 
after it is secured. It sells* usually in the towns to local consumers for 
about 83.00 a ton. Some of ic is baled and shipped to other points, but 
the frieght rates are so high as to make this impracticable, unless it can 
be sold to unusual advantage. On low lands, or when under irrigation, 
the fields are usually cut three times and sometimes four during the 
season. It is a usual practice to take two crops of hay and to let the 
third crop go to seed. Sometimes, however, an early frost will catch this 
crop before the seed matures, and, of course, blast the prospects of 
seed. So, to make It sure, the second crop is often taken for seed. The 
seed can be threshed and cleaned on an ordinary separator. The y'eld 
on thi bottom lands is reported to have fallen off in late years. ^Vhen 
first started the alfalfa crop frequently yielded from ten to twelve bushels 
of seed to the acre; now it is said to average only between five and seven 
bushels. This is for the vicinity of Garden City. On the uplands the 
yield is nearly as good. There is a large demand for the seed from seed- 
men and it sells at from $3.50 to $4.00 per bushel, and these prices are 
likely to remain stationary for some years to come until the supply has 



CLOVER CULTURE. 



39 



'been largely increased. At present the increase in demand Is equal to 
the increa^'e in production. 

As regards its nutritive qualities there are but few other plants that 
•can compare with alfafa. Red clover Is the best known and most uni- 
versal leguminous crop. For the sake oif comparison I quote the follow- 
ing analyses of the two from Wolf's tables. The Ggures refer to the 
digestible nutrients in each ease: 





Red clover. 
Quality very good. 


Alfalfa. 
Quality very good. 




Hay. 


Green. 
Inblcssom. 


Hay. 


Green. 
In blossom. 


Crude Protein 


8.5 

38.2 

1.7 

5 


1.7 
8.8 
0.4 
5.7 


12.3 

31.4 

1.0 

2.8 


3.2 


Carbohydrates 


8.1 


Fat 


3 


jS'utritive ratio 


3.1 



It will be here seen that alfalfa, either as hay or green, contains more 
of the most valuable nutrient (protein) than red clover, and the nutri- 
tive ratio indicates that it is nearly as narrow. The figures speak for 
themselves. Further argument on that point is unnecessary.* 

What place, then, can alfalfa take in western farming? It is grown 
with excellent success on the bottom lands and under irrigation. It can 
be grown, and is grown, with comparative success on the uplands. But 
this is not all. As a fertilizing agent of the soil it is fully equal, if not 
superior, to red clover. It is a nitrogen gatherer of the first magnitude, 
and its habit of growth renders it peculiarly efficient as a renovator and 
enrlcher of the soil. The long roots draw up ash elements from depths 
where no other crops could feed, and store them until, by their decay, 
they again give them up to succeeding crops. By their penetration into 
the subsoil it is on their decay rendered more porous; it Is aereated more 
perfectly than by other crop?; the water will drain through the soil bet- 
ter for the openings they leave and thus store more water beiow which 
can again be raised more easily through the capillaries they have formed. 
These are all beneficial features. 

Alfalfa, however, has some drawbacks. Owing to the fact that it tikes 
so long to develop its full powers it can never take the place in a short ro- 
tation that clover occupies farther east. For that purpose we must look 
to some other leguminous crop which can thrive in that region, and it 
seems probable that the soy bean will meet the want. But alfalfa can be 
used in a longer rotation. If it is allowed to stand five years and then 
plowed under, it will have served for pasture or meadow at least three or 
four years and at the same time will have developed a large root growth 
for the benefit of the soil. Many would hesitate to break up a good alfalfa 
field, but by breaking up a portion and seeding an equal portion every 
year the acreage could be maintained, and there would be no loss of feed. 
I should consider this the safest practice. It will not do to allow the 
soil to lose fertility. Our western farmers must resort to renovating 
crops of some kind, and, used in this manner, alfalfa will answer the pur- 
pose. Tf, in the course of a few years, farmers in the section of country 
above described, find themselves tilling an exhausted soil in addition to 
the precarious circumstances which now mark the situation, their lot will 

* It should be remembered, however, that it is customary to cut alfalfa when one- 
fourth lu bloom, while red clover is usually cut for hay after it is full bloom and one- 
third or more of the heads have turned brown. It should also be remembered that the 
relative supply of protein decreases rapidly in all plants after lilooming has commenced. 
Unless these facts are borne in mind the above comparison is in danger of mislead- 
ing. — The Author. 



40 CLrOVER CULTURE. 

be hard Indeed. But this need not happen. They have already discov- 
ered that land which has been in alfalfa far out yields adjoining land of 
equal original fertility. And I already hear of instances where compar- 
atively young alfalfa fields are broken up to be followed with wheat be 
cause of the increased yields itey afford. This is right and should b& 
encouraged. While permanent and exclusive stock farms with alfalfa the 
main if not the only crop will of course be numerous, and while stock 
raising must always be a prominent feature of agriculture in that region, 
the vast majority of the farmers must engage more or less in mixed hus- 
bandry. They must grow wheat, barley, oats, Kaffir corn and such other 
crops as will prove to be certain and profitable, and this system leads to 
certain exhaustion of the soil and consequent ruin of the farmer-; unless 
some renovatiuK crop keeps up the balance of fertility. Eastward clover 
is that crop; in the West alfalfa can and doubtless will take the same 
function, if not exactly in the same manner at least with the same result. 

The above from Prof. Georgesoii so completely covers 
the ground in the territory and under the conditions indicat- 
ed that every reader who knows the character of his soil and 
subsoil can determine with reasonable accuracy at. once 
whether it will pay him to grow alfalfa. We have recently 
made a careful personal investigation of the conditions in tlie 
territory indicated, and our observations coincide with the 
conclusions of jProf. Georgeson in every particulci.. It is our 
object to make this work a reliable guide to the farmer in 
growing clovers best adapted to his own particular soil and 
climate; and for this reason we have supplemented our own 
studies and observations with the experience of other men 
who have made the growing of the clovers a matter of special 
study and experiment in the several sections of the West. 
We have no doubt that there are very considerable areas of 
country east and south of the district indicated in which it 
will pay to grow alfalfa without irrigation. In fact, subject 
to the conditions of subsoil indicated by Prof Georgeson, we 
believe it may be regarded as a maxim that where clover 
ends, alfalfa begins. The Creator has made no mistake in 
providing leguminous plants for every country where he in- 
tended the farmer to prosper. 

In traveling over Kansas and Nebraska for tlie special 
study of the problem of growing the clovers, we were im- 
pressed by the failures of many alfalfa growers because of the 
lack of reliable information as to the best methods of grow- 
ing alfalfa, under their present conditions. With a view of 
giving the reader of the far West definite and reliable informa- 
tion on this point we requested Prof C. L. Ingersoll, of the 
Nebraska State University to contribute to these pages the 
results of his wide observation and special studies on the sub- 
ject of alfalfa under irrigation. Prof Ingersoll has special 



CLOVER CULTURE. 41 

qualifications for this work. He was for five years connected 
with the Colorado Experiment Station, and during these five 
years made alfalfa under irrigation a matter of special study 
and experiment. He has kindly consented to give the reader 
the benefit of his knowledge and experience. In the follow- 
ing pages he so completely covers the ground that the reader 
in this district, whether in Nebraska or the states further 
West, who carefully studies and follows his instructions, can 
scarcely be said to be experimenting with the plant: 

The subject of alfalfa culture in the United States has received great 
impetus within the last fifteen or twenty years because of its peculiar 
adaptation to culture in the more arid regions, and the excellent results 
obtained. The plant itself is not a modern one, but has been cultivated 
for several centuries. It is perennial, and when once successfully estab- 
lished in a soil, will remain and grow vigorously for years. In this 
respect it is quite unlike its congener — the red clover, which usually 
lasts but'two, or at most three years without reseeding. On this account 
the alfalfa is, therefore, of special value. 

The plant has been known by the Spanish name, alfafa, rather than 
by its French name, lucern, because it has come to us by the way of 
South America and California, where, with a bpanish speaking popula- 
tion, it would naturally be called by its Spanish name. Its botanical 
name is Medlcago sativa, and it is supposed to have been raised by the 
ancient Greeks and Romans to some extent, as long ago as the Christian 
era. Indeed the name Medicugo, applying to the genus, is derived from 
the Greek word signifying forage or forage plant. Other persons have 
supposed that the name was derived from the Province of Media, where 
it was supposed to have been cultivated in early times. Some of the 
Roman writers have memtioned it in their writings. In its introduction 
into America, it seems first to have found its way into the countries of 
South America, where there is little rainfall and where irrigation has 
been practiced to some extent. From these countries and especially Chili, 
it has found its way into some parts of Mexico, and also into Southern 
California, from which place it has spread into the states and territories 
lying to the eastward and reaching as far as the Missouri river. Agricul- 
ture in these regions on account of the physical conditions occasioned by 
lack of rainfall, must be carried on almost exclusively by means of irri- 
gation, and whi'e varied crops could be grown successfully, it was with 
■difficulty that eood stands of grab's or the ordinary clover could be ob- 
tained under this system. In alfalfa, then, those farmers seemed to have 
secured the plant with all the conditions necessary to supply them with 
forage. They found that it was a plant easily raised, provided proper 
care were used to put the soil in proper condition, that it grew thrifty, 
that it maintained its hold upon the fields, was strong and did not kill 
easily by winter exposure. They found that a given area would produce 
a much larger cutting of forage of good quality, than one set of grasses or 
ordinary clover. Although they were liable to be prejudiced against it 
because of th" prevailing systems in the East, they soon found that al- 
falfa was valuable in flesh producing compounds, and that animals soon 
learned to love it and thrived upon it. They also found that it was an 
excellent milk producer, and that when fed to sheep it produced a good 
quality of wool. All of these things combined to induce farmers of this 
region to forego their former experiences, and to learn, as it were, the 
new agriculture, with alfalfa as t/ie forage plant as the basis. 



42 CLOVER CUIyTURE. 

Alfalfa is adaptPtl to all the soils found upon the slope of the mountaiDs 
In the above mentioned reRion, such soils as a whole being made up of 
the disintegrated rocks of the region lying above them. In the erosion 
of the rocks, and in the distribution of the material we find considerable 
variation, Iqi;, In the lirst place, the rocks vary somewhat in character 
and hurdness. 

It is not u-<ual to sow this crop upon prairie land broken for the first 
time, although this is sometimes done. The best results are usually at- 
tained when the land has been cultivated in two or three crops, such as 
wheat, barley or oats, and then to have the land well prepared the fol- 
lowing spring for the seed bed. In ordinary cases we are to suppose a 
deptH of plowing varying from five to seven inches. Great depth of plow- 
ing, however, is non-essential, as the roots of the plant penetrate in ordi- 
nary soils to many feet in depth, the plant having one well marked tap- 
root which thrusts itself downward into the soil and largely sustains it, 
while the lateral roots that are thrown off are few in number and only 
contribute a small portion to the nutrition of the growing plant. One 
might suppose that it would be labor wasted to plow the ground again 
after a crop, unless he were to raise another crop of grain, but it has 
been ascertained that the best way to secure a nice even stand of alfalfa 
under irrigation is to raise it without other crops. This may seem like 
losing the use of the land for a season, but the farmer will find that he 
is well repaid in the end by the strong and better growth of the alfalfa, 
during the year, making it strong to pass the first winter. Therefore, 
where best results are expected, the ground should be plowed in the parly 
spring or late in the previous fall, and as soon as danger from frosts is 
passed, in April or May, the seed bed should be carefully prepared. This- 
must be done by repeated harrowings and the use of the roller or a plank 
smoothing arrangement, so that there is a well pulverized seed bed 
of one to two inches upon the surface. The ground should be moist, or 
at least moist enough to sprout and grow the S'-ed successfully without 
Irrigation. If there is not this degree of moisture in the land, it should 
be irrigated before the seed bed is prepared. A3 alfalfa seed is about the 
size and has the same appearance as red clover, it can be sown in approxi- 
mately in the same manner, either broad-cast or drilled, but more seed Is 
generally used than of red clover. Various quantities are stated as be- 
ing used by successful farmers in the arid region, and with equally good 
results. One of the finest fields the writer has seen was prepared as 
above stated, and the seed drilled in about one inch in depth in two direc- 
tions, making cro's checks, using twenty-five pounds of good seed per 
acre. The field produced one of the finest stands of forage that we have 
ever seen. 

Alfalfa will grow at almost any elevation below 7,000 down to sea level; 
above that the winters seem too severe and the nights in spring o- early 
summer too cold and frosty for the plant to thrive well. The number of 
cuttings of foragi which alfalfa produces is marvelous. In northern Col- 
orado and this parallel extending east and west at an elevation of .5,000 
feet, the usual number of cuttings in a single season is three, while in ex- 
ceptional seasons, four and even five cuttings have been made. In south- 
ern Colorado and northern New Mexico, four, five and six cuttings are 
quite usual, and the yield at each one of these is as great as the yield of 
good meadow' gras*. If the total growth of the plant during one season 
were taken, it would be found to vary from nine to fifteen feet in length; 
this varies, of course, with the soil, local circumstances, latitude and the 
elevation above sea level; in this case we are supposing a proper amount 
of water for irrigation. 

The irrigation of alfalfa is comparatively easy after the young plant* 
are started, but sometimes the ground, if not well sloped and smoothed, 
will tend to wash and some cf. the seed will be covered too deeply by soil 



CLOVER CULTURE. 43 

which is conveyed in other places, and in other cases the entire seed and 
soil may be washed away. Much care, then, and labor must be used in 
order to prevent this condition of thing and have a free and equal distri- 
bution of the water upon the field. The second irricration, a few weeks 
later, will be much easier, while the third irrigation will usually cost little 
or no effort. The water should be turned upon the alfalfa, after the first 
year, as early in the spring as it can be obtained from the canals, and the 
growth of the plant will thus be pushed very early and an accordingly 
larger growth made. The experience with reference to later irrigation 
varies somewhat. Some good farmers prefer to turn the water upon the 
field just before it is ready to be cut, and then as soon as the soil has be- 
■come reasonably dry to commence the haying; others prefer to make the 
hay and turn the water immediately upon the stubble. Both methods have 
their adherents and advocates, and both obtain equally good results as far 
as Q,ur observation extends. It is usual to irrigate at least once for each 
cutting; sometimes an extra irrigation would be valuable if the weather be 
■extremely hot and dry. A late irrigation just before the ground freezes is 
desirable to give moisture for winter. 

We have alluded to the yield of alfalfa as a forage plant. It is no un- 
usual thing to take six or eight tons of forage from a single acre, and that 
upon large areas, so that a man who has a comparatively small area well 
set in alfalfa is master of the situation as far as forage is concerned. We 
mu-t remember that in this region corn cannot be successfully raised in 
large quantity; and if alfalfa is to be the great forage plant in this region, 
it must successfully take the place of corn in the agriculture at low eleva- 
tions. The amount of forage which it furnishes per acre gives us the first 
great factor in this comparison and makes it especially valuable. The 
farmers of Colorado especially have found alfalfa to be a very strong nu- 
tritive plant for feeding, and in some instances It has been used success- 
fully in the fattening of beef steers for the market without the addition 
of a single ounce of grain ration. We have seen the fattening of nearly 
one hundred and fifty in one bunch that was conducted in this way, and 
the animals brought the highest price in the Denver market. Perhaps a 
statement of the composition of the alfalfa plant at this point might not 
be out of place. The green alfalfa contained 39 11 per cent, of dry mate- 
rial and G0.89 per cent, of water. The alfalfa hay contained 9.59 per cent, 
of water, 11.90 per cent, of ash, 3.85 per cent, of fat, 12.87 per cent, of al- 
buminoid nitrogen, 18.01 per cent, of crude fiber and 43.78 per cent, of 
nitrogen free extract 

This was for alfalfa cut when the bloom was half turned, showing that 
it was rapidly ripening. Experiments at several of the experiment sta- 
tions in the United States have shown that this is the proper time at 
which to cut grasses and clovers in order to have them retain the greatest 
amount of nutritive qualities. Alfalfa, like other clovers and grasses, 
should be carefully cured for hay. As the leaves are somewhat smaller 
than those of other clover, and the climate of the arid region is exces- 
■sively dry, it should be secured before the hay has cured too much so as 
"to prevent the breaking off of the leaves and leaving the hay largely of 
bare stems. A very little experience will teach one what is best in regard 
to this. Again, if the plant stands too long and becomes too ripe, the 
seed begins to form and there is too much woody fiber in the stalk, and 
much of it is quite indigestible, even when eaten by stock. It is cus- 
tomary in many places, however, to cut one crop of hay, then to take a 
crop of seed and to pasture for the remainder of the year. In cases of this 
kind we have known three tons of good hay to be secured, and eight 
bushels of fine seed per acre, beside the pasture. It is thus readily seen 
that a plant, which, under irrigation, will produce such results as those 
mentioned, Is extremely valuable to the farmer who practices irrigation, 
and that in the agriculture of the west, at an elevation of from 2,500 to 



44 CLOVER CULTlJKb. 

7, 000 feet, there is no other plant we know of that can take Its place. 

We have often been asked what was our opinion relative to alfalfa for 
the state of Nebraska. We have always replied that it would be valuable 
for a large portion, if not for all the state. If a line were to be drawn 
from Sioux City, Iowa, southwest, passing through Grand Island, in HalJ 
county, extending to the south line of the state, all lying west and north- 
west of that line would, in our opinion, be benefitted by raising more or 
less of this plant for forage. In the more eastern and southeastern 
counties, the propriety of its general growth might, perhaps, be ques- 
tioned; but even there, in small areas for special purposes, it misbt be 
valuable. In many places farmers have made the mistake of sowing thfs 
plant upon low ground, where it was but a short distance to water. It 
should be grown where its roots would be obliged to go some distance for 
water and where there is no impervious sub-soil. When grown with too 
much moisture the plants turn yellow, having a feeble, sickly appear- 
ance and usually die In one or two years. The same appearance is found 
when the roots of the plant cannot penetrate shaly sub-soil. In summing 
up this whole matter of alfalfa growing, we believe that no single plant 
has been introduced in the weslern part of the United States that is oi 
such great utility and value as alfalfa. 




WHITE AND ALSIKE CLOVER. 



CHAPTER V 



White clover sustains the same relation to permanent 
pastures on dry calcareous or carboniferous soils, and alsike on 
pastures of slough, marsh or other wet lands, that the red 
and the mammoth sustain to the meadows in the carbonifer- 
ous soils in the northern and western states that have rain- 
fall of twenty inches and over, and that alfalfa sustains to 
the deep, sandy or other light soils in the Pacific states and 
territories and other arid or semi-arid regions where irriga- 
tion is possible. The relation is not merely that of a source 
ot an abundant supply of pasture and forage on the one hand 
or of hay and forage on the other, but each is a hand-maid, a 
help-meet, as a source of nitrogen to whatever other grasses, 
non-leguminous, may be associated with them. There is no 
true grass that we know of that will not flourish better and 
produce more abundantly when associated with the clovers, 
whether in the pasture or in the meadows. 

It is unnecessary for us to enter into any detailed descrip- 
tion of the white clover nor is any illustration needed to 
identify a plant so widely spread and generally known. It 
is called trijoliuni repens, or the creeping three-leaf plant, 
because of its creeping habit of growth. Its deficiency in 
length prevents it from being of much value as a meadow 
grass, although the analysis of its hay shows it to be equal, if 
not, indeed, superior, to either the red or the mammoth clover. 
It differs from the red and mammoth in many particulars. 

First. It is perennial ; that is, it grows from the same root 
year after year, while the others are for the most part, biennial 



46 CLOVER CULTURE. 

I 

that is,growiag two years, or at most short perennials, which 
they are said to become if prevented from flowering by con- 
tinued pasturage, and thus last for three or four years. It is 
probable that there is ground for the statement made by 
English botanists, and at which we have hinted in a previous 
chapter, that there are at least two varieties known as tlie 
common red clover, one of which is strictly a biennial and 
the other a short perennial. Another point of difference is 
that when the creeping vines of white clover are allowed to 
grow long, they throw out rootlets along the vine which 
give it an ability to stand prolonged summer drouths better 
than the red or mammoth varieties with their longer tap 
roots. 

White clover seeds abundantly, the seeds growing four 
and sometimes six in a pod. It secretes a great abundance of 
nectar and being easily fertilized by the common bee, and 
therefore independent of the bumble bee, it yields a far more 
certain crop of seed. It is a common saying among farmers 
that white clover never fails to produce a seed crop. When 
we come to examine the ash of the plant and compare it with 
red clover, the white contains nearly twice as much phosphoric 
acid, nearly four per cent, more lime, and potasli in the 
proportion of two to five. It will therefore flourish on soils 
that are deficient in potash, while it requires more phosphoric 
acid than the red clover. Both, however, by reason of the 
bacteria in the nodules or tubercles on t^ieir roots, obtain their 
nitrogen to a very large extent from the atmosphere. 

The history of white clover is somewhat obscure. It is 
probably indigenous to the Eastern states of America, and is 
said, on what authority we do not know, to have been domes- 
ticated, by cultivating the seeds of the wild plant, about the 
beginning of the last century. It is recorded of a farmer in. 
one of the Eastern states at that time that he "sowed the wild 
white clover which holds the ground and decays not." In 
Sir John Norden's Surveyor's Dialogue, printed in 1607 and 
re-printed in 1618, we find the growing of "clouer grasse or 
the grasse honey suckle (white clover) with other hay seeds" 
advised. This would indicate that it is probably indigenous 
to England, and that the attention of the farmers was called 
to its merits a hundred years earlier in England tha^i in 
America. It precedes the introduction of red clover from 
Europe almost fifty years. It is not. so far as we have 
observed, indigenous, that is a natural product of the soil, to 
the West. It seems to have come in as did blue grass {poa 



ULrUVKiK CUiy'iUKl*.. 45 

pratensis\ with the introduction ot" lawn grasses into the 
villages, and from this it spread with the blue grass in all 
directions following naturally the main traveled roads, and 
especially the ridge roads that meandered over the unbroken 
prairie. We have usually observed blue grass gaining a foot- 
hold, where the prairie grass had been tramped out, three or 
four years in advance of the white clover; and after the white 
clover had become established in connection with the blue 
gTass, it always retains its footing. These two grasses seemi 
to be united by a marriage bond stronger than that of squire 
or clergy, and one which no court has sufficient jurisdiction to- 
dissolve. There are two obvious reasons for this close and inti- 
mate relation between blue grass and white clover. The blue 
grass needs the white clover to supply it with nitrogen which 
it requires in large quantities, and the period of growth of 
each is such that neither interferes seriously with the other. 
The blue grass has thrown up heads and blossoms and its 
seed is well on the way to maturity before the white clover 
is ready to make its push for the occupancy of the ground. 
The latter then has the field mostly to itself until the blue 
grass is ready to make its fall growth, hence, in mid-summer 
farmers sometimes claim that the white clover has taken the 
blue grass and ar^ disposed to mourn over the fact. An 
examination of the same field in the fall will show that blue 
grass occupies the ground almost wholly and they are dis- 
posed to wonder where the white clover has gone. It is for 
these two reasons that these plants are found inseparable in 
the permanent pasture. 

The place for white clover is in the permanent pasture. 
It should never be sown in any pasture that is not intended 
to remain undisturbed for three years or more, and it should 
be as far as possible carefully excluded from all meadows and 
from lands intended for rotation of five years or less. The 
reason need scarcely be stated. If sown on lands that are 
intended for meadows, it will very soon crowd out timothy and 
the larger clovers, and thus greatly reduce the yield of forage. 
It is liable to springup evervyear in lands cultivated in corn 
or other tillage crops, and hence becomes a weed, compara- 
tively harmless, but at the same time useless, while the 
amount of nitrogen it may supply in its brief life as a weed 
among cultivated crops is not worth mentioning. 

Like most other good things, and we might add good 
people, it has its faults. In the earlier part of the sea- 
son cattle take the larger clovers and other cultivated grasses 



48 CLOVER CULTURE. 

in preference, probably on account of some particular flavoi 
which they prefer. This objection, however, is speedily 
overcome as the season progresses, and it is never found that 
a crop of white clover is necessarily wasted. Another and 
more serious objection is that in certain seasons, and par- 
ticularly during the months when the seed is ripening, it is 
believed to slobber stock, particularly horses and occasionally 
hogs, the so-called salivation being believed to be produced 
by the supposed pungent character of the seeds. It is, how- 
ever, extremely doubtful whether the white clover is justk' 
blamed for this result. If the salivation is produced by the 
seeds, there is reason to believe that the seeds of the other 
clovers are equally to blame. It is at least possible that the 
slobbering is due to wild plants in the pasture. The whole 
subject should be thoroughly investigated by the various 
E.xperiment Stations. It is worthy of notice, however, that 
whatever may be the objections of farmers ou this question, 
they always disappear with the first season of real drouth. 
The same objections made to this plant ten or fifteen years 
ago from the State of Iowa now come to us from Kansas and 
Nebraska where it is being introduced as a grass essential to 
the permanent pastures. It might be well to remark that in 
Scotland where it has been grown for nearly three hundred 
years, many of the best authorities claim that the proportion 
of white clover in a good permanent pasture should be kept 
up. to twenty or thirty per cent, of the total grasses. This 
fact shows the high favor in which white clover stands where 
it has been cultivated the longest. Farmers, .therefore, in 
the newer parts of the West should not hesitate to sow it, and 
more especially as but little seed, a pound or two ptr acre, 
is all that is necessary. This will not only sieed the ground 
in a year or two, but the seeds will be carried by birds and 
live stock into all parts of the farm and adjoining farms, and 
will spread over the adjoining country until it ceases to 
be necessary to seed at all, even where a stand in connec- 
tion with blue grass is desired. The seeds are about bne- 
ihird the size of those of the red and mammoth clover and 
hence the small amount per acre above suggested. 

When it is desired to sow white clover as a part of the 
permanent pasture, it is always best to sow it witn as great a 
variety of grass seed as possible, and the mixture should 
include varieties that will for the first year or two give an 
abundance of forage. If we were making a permanent pas- 
ture in which white clover was expected to bear a prominent 



CJ.OVER CULTURE. 49 

part, we would sow red and mammoth clover in about equal 
proportions, the usual amount of timothy, more or less blue 
grass, and, south of latitude 42, more or less orchard grass, 
and on all wet lands and sloughs in dry lands, we would sow 
alsike clover. The reason for this suggestion is that the blue 
grass, which forms a prominent part in all permanent pas- 
tures where it does well, can not be expected to be ready to. 
completely occupy the ground inside of three years. Dur- 
ing this time the land should be producing to its full capacity 
and hence should be occupied by the larger clovers and other 
grasses which can afford less resistance to the growth of blue 
grass than white clover would if a full stand were sown with 
it. This subject will be more fully discussed when we come 
to speak in detail of grass mixtures suitable for diflferent ro- 
tatiorks and parts of a rotation. 

In sowing the smaller seeds such as blue grass and white 
clover the depth, of covering which is so necessary for the 
larger clovers in a light soil and a dry climate is not required. 
It is not sale, however, in the drier and lighter soils to trust 
to surface sowing, and white clover, while it grows when 
seeded naturally on the surface, yet has the advantage of the 
freezing and thawing of the soil in winter to enable it to im- 
bed itself in the soil. This imbedding on land under tillage, 
such as is necessary for grain crops can be secured by the use 
of a common smoothing harrow and it were better still if this 
were followed by a light brush harrow, or, where the condi- 
tions are suitable, light rolling. 

One of the varieties most recently introduced into the 
West is alsike or Swedish clover, {trifclmni hybridu7n^) an 
illustration of which will be found on the following page. Its 
botanical name {hybridimt) was given by the early botanists 
Linnaeus, who believed it to be a cross or hybrid between the 
white and the red. This, however, has long since been dis- 
coyered to be a mistake. It is a distinct species, native over 
a large part of Europe, and is believed to have been first cul- 
tivated in Sweden, deriving its name from the village of 
Syke in that country. It was first introduced into England 
in 1834 and into Germany in 1854, where it is said to be large- 
ly grown not only for its forage but also for the seed. Our 
attention was first called to it some ten or twelve years ago. 
We instructed the tenant on one of our farms to sow some 
fowl meadow grass, (/»ca serotind) on a small patch of wet bot- 
tom land, and to sow a small quantity of alsike for experiment 
on a piece of dry, corn land. Instead he sowed the two together 



50 



CLOVER CULTURE. 




ALSIKE. ( Trifolium hybridiim.) 



CLOVER CULTURE. 51 

on the wet land, and the seed of the fowl meadow proving 
worthless and so reported, we paid no further attention to the 
plot until a year later, when, driving near it, our attention 
was called to the hum of the bees apparently among the 
slough grass surrounding the patch. We found on examina- 
tion that the alsike was growing luxuriantly and was a favo- 
rite with the bees, and it then occurred to us that we had 
thus accidentally found the grass for wet sloughs that would 
not, at the prices of tile in that locality, pay for drainage and 
yet should be made productive in some way. We therefore 
began sowing alsike as an experiment at the heads of sloughs 
and learned, after the experience of a year or two, that an 
■excellent stmd could be secured by burning ofFthe slough grass 
in the fall, 3%wing the seed in March and then mowing the 
slough early in June in order to allow the alsike abundance of 
air and sunlight. We have ever since recommended it 
through the Homestead and it is now sown quite extensively 
especially east of the grand divide in Iowa, and where our 
farmers find it difficult to secure a profitable crop of anything 
else from the sloughs so common in the Mississippi Valley. 

A.lsike differs from both the red and mammoth and the 
white. It grows, when supported by other grasses, taller than 
the red but not so tall as the mammoth and is more slender 
in the stalk, more succulent and hence makes even^better 
hay. It has fuller heads, on long stems and intermediate in 
size between the white and red. It differs from the white in 
its habits of growth, the stalks when lying down not throw- 
ing out rootlets at different points, and hence it is unable to 
stand extreme drouth, and does not succeed well on the drier 
lands. It partakes in its root growth somewhat of the habits 
of both the red and the white, throwing down, in connection 
with its main root, similar, but not so long as the red, a 
number of fibrous roots. Its seed differs in color both from 
the white and the red, but in size is similar to the white. Like 
the white it is a perennial. It spends its main strength on the 
production of the seed crop and throws up but little aftermath 
in dry ground or in a dry season. It is, therefore, peculiarly 
adapted to marsh lands, swales, sloughs and bottoms subject 
to overflow, succeeding in lands of this character better than 
any clover as yet introduced, but on the whole inferior to red 
or mammoth for lands capable of regular cultivation, or what 
in the west are termed "corn lands, "and inferior to the white 
on the high, dry soils. Like all the clovers it doets best on 
calcareous or carboniferous soils. Like the white, when once 



52 CLOVER CULTURE. 

introduced, its seed stays iu the ground. In the fall of 1891 
we plowed under a bottom field ofalsike. On account ol 
continuous rains in the spring of 1892, corn planting was 
necessarily delayed and by the loth of June the entire field 
was covered with a rank growth ofalsike that had grown up 
from the seed that had been lying in the soil. We have known 
lands that have been overflowed for a sufficient length of time 
to destroy all the tame grasses, covered, after the waters had 
receded, with a vigorous growth of alsike, the seeding of for- 
mer crops. The value of alsike, therefore, lies in its adaptation 
to lands, whether bottom, marsh or slough, which on account 
of lack of drainage or possible drainage facilities, are not 
capable of cultivation inregular rotation and will not produce 
profitable crops of other tame grasses. On lands of this kind 
it is not at all difficult to secure a stand on the following 
plan: First, burn off, the fall preceding, all wild grasses 
that may have grown on the land. In March of the following 
year sow from four to five pounds of alsike, mixing the seed 
with sand so as to secure an even cast. Then either pasture 
closely or else early in June mow off whatever grass may be 
growing on it, first leveling the ant hills and removing what- 
ever obstructions to the mower that may exist. This will 
secure light and air to the young plants and the entire crop 
of alsike and wild grass may be mown in the fall as a grass 
crop. The next year, unless either the land or the season be 
very wet, but little will remain save the alsike, which may be 
used either as a hay crop or for seed. The effect of seeding in 
this manner will be somewhat surprising. On wet lands where 
the coarser varieties of slough grass grow, tlie growth of the 
alsike will be accompanied by the decay of the roots of the 
coarser grasses, they being smothered out by the rank growth 
of the alsike. This will have the effect in time of allowing the 
water to sink away that has heretofore been held by the mass of 
roots of the wild grass, and especially if the land be pastured after 
the first and second year' s mowing, the entire surface will be com- 
pacted by the tramping of cattle, and if a slough, the water con- 
fined to the center. It will then be possible in the course of two or 
three years to sow white or red clover or blue grass, the result 
of drier conditions. In fact, we know of no way ot reducing 
the width of a slough and limiting it to a narrow channel sa 
effective as sowing with alsike and treating in the manner 
above indicated. 

We are not advised as to the climatic range of alsike 
clover. Manifestly its cultivation is not practicable in the 



CLOVER CULTURE 53 

drier Western states, nor is it likely to be very popular where 
dry draws take the place of sloughs. The fact that it was 
first cultivated in Sweden indicates that its northern limit will 
be beyond that of the red and mammoth clovers. It is worthy 
of experiment as far South as the carboniferous and calcare- 
ous soils extend, and anywhere in the region covered by the 
drift when there is sufficient moisture. It is not likely to be 
in favor in the Eastern states, nor do we recommend it on 
well-drained soils anywhere, as under these conditions red 
clover or mammoth would be preferable. Within the limits 
indicated, farmers who allow their wetter lands to grow up in 
coarse slough grass or their sloughs to become an eye-sore 
■either through lack of ability or unwillingness to drain, will 
find it greatly to their advantage to sow them to alsike, thus 
drying and narrowing them and preparing the way for blue 
grass, t mothy and other clovers. 

Wherever farmers keep Italian bees, which everyone 
should for the purpose of fertilizing red clover if not for the pur- 
pose of procuring the one pure sweet, distilled by Nature her- 
self, they should sow or induce their near neighbors to sow 
a few acres of alsike clover even on lands that will produce a 
greater crop of red or mammoth clover. As a honey plant 
it probably has no superior. In addition to this it should, 
whether on dry or wet land, form an ingredient in the mixture 
for hog pastures, if for nothing else than for the sake of great- 
er variety and more continuous bloom. When sown with other 
grasses, it should be given the same covering suggested in 
the former part of this chapter for white clover. It is, as will 
be seen from the above, a special-purpose grass. The illus- 
tration on page 50 will enable our readers to identify it 
readily. 



MINOR VARIETIES OF THE CLOVERS. 



CAHPTER VI. 



While the red and mammoth clovers {trifolium prate use) 
the alfalfa {medicago saliva) the white or Dutch clover (/rz- 
folium repens)2iX\d\hQ a\s\ke.{irifoliumhybridum)aiXQ. the clo- 
vers most valuable in the eastern, northern and north-western 
states, there are a number of other varieties of no little local 
value. Some of these will grow in what is usually known 
as the "corn and grass belt," but being inferior to the varie- 
ties just mentioned, are properly neglected or regarded as 
weeds. Of these is the melilotus a/i^a, commonly Igiown as 
sweet clover, which can be found growing in gardens, whence 
it escapes to the highway, vacant lots, especially in cities, and 
to neglected fields. A sub variety of it is known as Bokhara 
clover. It grows to the height of six or eight feet on good 
land when not cropped, and its only value, on lands that will 
grow red or mammoth clover profitably is as bee pasture. For 
this purpose it will pay apiarians to sow. it along the road- 
sides or in the vacant corners and other neglected lands. In 
the drier portions of the West and in the South this clover 
has very considerable value. It is proving a valuable forage 
plant and also one of the renovating crops greatly needed in 
some of the more southern states. An illustration of this 
variety will be found on next page. Trials at the Mississippi 
Agricultural College and by planters in that state seem to 
have established this fact beyond question. Like all the 
other clovers it has the capacity of appropriating nitrogen 
from the atmosphere and thus enriching the land and prepar- 
ing it for the profitable production of other crops. Where it 
has been found impossible to grow the better varieties of clo- 
ver it is worthy of trial, and experiment stations in those 
states where the better varieties are not a success should 
make a still more careful and thorough investigation of its 
merits. 



CLOVER CULTURE. 



5S 




SWEET CLOVER. {Melilotus alba.) 



56 CLOVER CULTURE. 

Scarlet o^^ crimson clover. Within thejast lew years 
i\ good deal has been said in the eastern and southern papers 
with reference to scarlet or crimson clover {trifolunn incariia- 
iuni) an illustration of which may be found on next page. This 
is sown in midsummer or early autumn, and blooms, in the 
latitude to which it is adapted, early in May. It grows from 
t\vent\' inches to twenty-eight inches in height, and is harvested 
in time to prepare the ground for another crop. It has a 
long slender head brilliant scarlet in color and yields large 
crops which can be cut from the tenth of May to the first of 
June, according to the latitude. The Delaware Experiment 
station has recently been carrying on experiments with a view 
of determining the value of this crop and reports that it yields 
■easily eight tons of green fodder per acre, if cut between the 
5th and loth of May, that its roots run down four feet in 
iavorable locations and that it is superior to the ordinary red 
or mammoth clover in two respects: i. Its ability to flourish 
on relatively poor soils. 2. Its capacity for growth during 
the tall, spring and in open winters. It also reports that it can 
not be seeded with winter grain owing to the fact that it 
^rows when winter wheat or rye seem dormant and as the 
result, one crop or the other would be destroyed. -It is 
specially valuable for soiling and for plowing u-nder as a 
^reen crop instead of rye, European writers mention five 
varieties of this clover, differing to some extent from each 
other in their relative powers to withstand winter conditions, 
and :t may be that some variety may yet be introduced that 
will be able to withstand the rigours of a northern winter. 
Until this is done the crimson or scarlet clover must be 
regarded as a crop especially adapted to the southern and bor- 
der states. We tried it one year, on our own farms in south- 
ern Iowa, sowing after harvest on wheat stubble, and the next 
spring we failed tofind a single stalk that had survived the win- 
ter. Similar experiments were made at tlu- Iowa Agricultural 
College, and in Ikinois in the latitude of North Missouri, .so 
that any variety known in America must be regarded as 
adapted only to the latitudes of the southern border states. 
Having the same power of appropriating nitrogen from the 
atmosphere, it will no doubt prove of great value where its 
cultivation is practical, and especially to truck farmers who 
fitter the removal of their crop can sow the land to clover and 
plow it lender or use it for hay and turn the roots in time for 
ii profitable crop on the same land next season. 

Our object in experimenting with it was to ascertain 



CLOVER CULTURE. 



57. 




SCARLET OR CRIMSON CLOVER. ( TrifoUum incarnatum. > 



58 CLOVER CULTURE. 

whether the Western farmer could sow it in his corn fiefds at 
the last plowing or on the stubble after harvest and turn the 
■crop under in time for a crop of corn the next year. If some 
variety could be procured that would endure the northern 
winters this might be done, and it would then prove of great 
value in sections of the West whare corn is the leading crop 
and where it' is necessary to supply nitrogen at a very cheap 
rate. The amount of seed necessary is from fifteen to twenty- 
five pounds per acre, which should be sown broadcast and 
covered the same depth at which red or mammoth clover suc- 
ceeds best in the latitude where it is sown. 

Japan Clover^ {Lespedeza striata.') In some unknown 
way there was introduced a variety of clover into the South 
Atlantic States from Japan about forty-five years ago that has 
proved of no little economic value, known as Japan clover, 
{Lespedeza striata^) an illustration of which will be found on 
next page. It was little noticed before the late civil war, but 
during the war it extended south and west and has spread 
rapidly over a large district of country, especially along road- 
sides, in abandoned fields and in open woods. -• Like nearly 
all clovers in climates ot great and long continued summer 
heat, whether the rainfall be deficient or not, it is an annual, 
growing up every spring, and is killed by frost in the fall. 
The seeds begin to ripen about the ist of August and con- 
tinue to mature until the close of the season. It reproduces 
itself from seed on the same ground year after year, and 
hence by mistake has frequently been regarded as a peren- 
nial. It will grow on poor soils, but prefers clay, and only 
on rich bottom lands does it obtain size sufficient to justify 
cutting it for hay. It may be found in the situations above 
mentioned in many of the Southern states, driving out broom 
sedge and even Bermuda or Johnson grass in some localities, 
but it does not withstand drouth soweli-as th-e Bermuda. It 
is likewise easily killed by frost. It has proven agreat bless- 
ing to the Southern farmers, a good Samaritan, providing its 
own charges, sowing itself wherev»«' there is an abandoned 
field and thus binding up the broken-hearted l^nd. It ranges 
from the Atlantic Coast to Tennessee, Missi ..ippi, Alabama, 
•Georgia and as far West as north-eastern Texas. 

It is scarcely possible to over-estimaie the economic 
value of this plant to the Southern farmer, and it is only 
since the recent discoveries of the power which all clovers 
and all legumes possess of fixing nitrogen in the soil by ap- 
propriating it from the atmosphere and storing it in the soil 



CLOVER CULTURE. 




JAPAN CLOVER. {Lespidcza striata.) 



*0 CL,OV£.K CULTURE. 

that its value has become fully uuderstood, even by the most 
intelligent farmers. Any plant that will of its own accord 
restore the wastes of the soil, robber must grow in popular es- 
limation year after year. It should be sown at the rate of 
half a bushel to the acre and covered to a depth sufficient to 
give it the same degree of light, heat and moisture which it 
secures when self-sown on uncultivated fields or commons. 
It must ever be borne in mind that all seeds on loose, well- 
cultivated soils require a deeper covering than when self- 
sown on unplowed land. 

Biir Clover. {Medicago denticiilala.) This clover is 
next in economic importance, and grows largely in California. 
This, too, is a foreigner, which was early introduced in that 
state, and has given itselt a wide distribution, having spread 
over the lower lauds in the southern and central counties and 
on some of the high lands as well. It has also been tried 
with success in some parts of Texas and Mississippi. We 
have seen thousands of sheep feeding in mid-summer on lands 
in California apparently almost as bare as the highway. The 
sheep seemed lo be in good condition, and by inquiry we 
found they were feeding on the seeds of the bur clover. The 
seed remaining begins to grow with the winter rains and 
hence this clover furnishes a winter pasture in the leaves and 
a summer pasture in the seeds. The only objection that can 
be made to it as a forage plant for sheep is that the seeds be- 
ing in the form of burs, (hence the popular name,) injures the 
market value of the wool to a greater or less extent. Bur clo- 
ver, like the white, of the northern states, has a growing 
mate in W\&al/ilaria{erodium cicularium)^ prox^ounccd al-fi-la- 
res, the local name beingstork's bill, pin clover, pin grass and 
filaria. The alfilaria is neither a grass nor a clover, but be- 
longs to the geranium family and the two grow together for 
the same reason that white clover and blue grass are a wedded 
pair, bound together by a tie which no court can dissolve, the 
bur clover evidently supplying the alfilaria with nitrogen. 

A closely related variety of bur clover {medicago macu/a/a) 
is found in Western Nebraska, and no doubt over other por- 
tions of the plain region. Nature is careful in her distribu- 
tion of the legumes, and especially of the clovers, and provides 
some variety of this invaluable plant for almost every soil and 
climate. 

Besides the foreign species above enumerated, there are 
in the United States some forty species of native clovers, most 
of them belonging to the Pacific Slope and the mountain 



CLOVER CULTURE. 61 

ftrgion, and a few belonging to the southern states and tht 
plains. These clovers are mostly annuals. We give the fol- 
lowing description of the most prominent of them taken from 
the report of Dr. Geo. Vasey, botanist of the Department of 
Agriculture for the year 1886, with illustrations showing the 
varieties described, which will be found at the conclusion of 
this chapter: 

Trifolium Fucatum. 

This is one of the largest and strongest growing of our 
native kinds, and is 'found on the Pacific coast. Under favor- 
able circumstances it attains a height of two or three feet. 
The stem is decumbent, smooth, thick, and juicy. The stip- 
ules at the base of the leat are half an inch to an inch long^ 
ovate, broad. and clasping the stem. The leaves are trifoliate, 
with stems or petioles three to six inches long; the leaflets 
vary from roundish or oblong to obovate, thickish, strongly 
veined, three-fourths of an inch to an inch and a half long, 
and with numerous small, sharp teeth on the margins. The 
flower heads are large (one to two inches in diameter), larger 
than those of the common red clover on naked peduncles 
(stems), which are longer than the leaf-stalks (sometimes five 
to six inches long). There is a conspicuous green involucre 
surrounding the base of the flower head deeply divided into 
seven to nine ovate, entire, and pointed lobes, which are 
about half as long as the flowers. The heads contain com- 
paratively few flowers (about eight to ten), but these are about 
an inch long, thick and inflated, the calyx about one-fourth 
as long as the caroUa, which varies from pink to purple in 
2olor. Mr. S. Watson, in the "Botany of California," says 
oi this: "A common species in the Coast Ranges and in the 
foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada, through the length of the 
State — in some places very abundant and affordmg good 
pasturage." It would seem very desirable that this species 
should be given a fair trial in cultivation. 

Trifolium megacep-halum (Large-headed clover). 

A low species, seldom reaching a foot in height, but 
robust and with strong, deeply penetrating roots. A number 
of stalks usually proceed trom one root, but these stems are 
unbranching, somewhat hairy, and terminate with a single 
large head. The leaves mostly proceed from the base of the 
stem, there usually being but one pair on the stalk near the 
middle. The lowest leaves are long-stalked, and with five or 
seven leaflets instead of three, as in most clovers, but the 
upper ones are sometimes reduced to three leaflets. The 



62 CLOVER CULTURE. 

leaflets are an inch longf or less, somewhat wedge-shaped or 
obovateand blunt at the apex, and with very fine, sharp teeth 
on the edge. The stipules at the base of the leaves are large, 
mostly ovate in form, and sharply toothed or deeply cut. The 
heads are mostly terminal, about one and one-half inches 
long, on a naked peduncle, and without an involucre. The 
flowers are large, purplish, about an inch long,and very com- 
pact and spicate in the head. The calyx with its long, 
plumose teeth, is half as long as the corolla. This species 
grows in the mountain region of California, Oregon, Wash- 
ington Territory, Nevada, and Montana. It is not as large 
as the common red clover, but experiments are needed to 
determine its possibilities for pasturage. Its large, showy 
heads and its peculiar leaves would make it an interesting 
ornamental species. 

Trifolium Involucratum. 

This is an annual species, presenting a great variety of 
form, but under favorable circumstances reaching one and 
one-half or two feet in height and of vigorous growth. The 
stems are usually decumbent and branching below, very 
leafy, and terminating with one to three heads on rather long 
peduncles. The leaves are on stalks longer than the leaflets, 
which are in threes, one-half to one inch long, of an oblong or 
obovate form, smooth, and with very fine, sharp teeth on the 
margins. The stipules are large, ovate, or lanceolate, and 
usually much gashed or deeply toothed. The heads are long- 
stalked, about an inch long, the purplish flowers closely 
crowded, and surrounded with an involucre, which is divided 
into numerous long-toothed lobes. The flowers are half to 
three-fourths of an inch long, slender, with a short, striate 
<ialyx, the teeth of which are very slender, entire,and pointed, 
and little shorter than the corolla. This species has a wide 
range of growth in the western part of the continent, pre- 
vailing from Mexico to British America through the moun- 
tain districts. Under cultivation it would probably produce 
a good yield of fodder, but has never been subjected to experi- 
ment so far as known. ^ 

Trifolium Stoloniferum (Running buffalo clover). 

This is a perennial species, growing about a foot high; 
long runners are sent out from the base, which are procum- 
bent at first, becoming erect. The leaves are all at the base, 
except one pair at the upper part of the stem. The root 
leaves are long-stalked, and have three thinnish obovate 
leaflets, which are minutely toothed. The pair of leaves on 



CLOVER CULTURE. 63 

the stem have the stalk about as long^ as the leaflets, which 
are about one inch long. The stipules are ovate or lanceo- 
late, pointed, and entire on the margins, the lower ones nearly 
an inch long, the upper ones about half as long. There are 
but one or two heads on each stem at the summit, each on a 
peduncle longer than the leaves. The heads are about an 
inch in diameter, rather loosely flowered, each flower being 
on a short, slender pedicel, or stem, which bends backward at 
maturity. Each flowei has a long- toothed calyx about half as 
long as the corolla, which is white tinged with purple. This 
species is found in rich, open wood-lands and in prairies in 
Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, and westward. It is smaller iu 
size and less vigorous in growth than the common red clover. 
Trifolium Carolinanum (Southern clover). 
A small perennial clover, having much resemblance to the 
common white clover. It usually grows from six to ten inches 
high, somewhat pubescent, the stems slender, procumbent, 
and branching. The leaves are trifoliate, on petioles of 
variable length. The leaflets are about half an inch long, 
obovate, wedge-shaped at base, and somewhat notched at the 
summit. The stipules are nearly as long as the leaflets, ovate 
or lanceolate, and slightly toothed above. Each stalk has 
usually two long-stalked heads, proceeding from the upper 
joints. The roundish heads are from one-half to three-fourths 
of an inch in diameter, without an involucre, and with numer- 
ous crowded, small flowers on slender pedicels, which become 
reflexed in age. The long lanceolate teeth of the calyx are 
slightly shorter than the small, purplish, pointed corolla. 
The pods are ususlly four-seeded. This species occurs in all 
the Southern States and in Texas. It is too small to be valu- 
able for fodder, but is worthy of trial as a constituent of pas- 
tures in the South. 



64 



CLOVER CULTURE. 




{TrifoUum fiicatii /;/.) 



CLOVER CULTURE. 



65 




LARGE HEADED CLOVER. [TrifoUum mcgaccphahim.) 



66 



CLOVER CULTURE. 




( Irijoliiini invohicratum.) 



CLOVER CULTURE. 



67 




RUNNING^BUFFALO CLOVER. ( Vri/W/um stoloniferum. 



^ 



CLOVER CULTURE. 




SOUTHERN CLOVER. {.Tnfolmm Carolinanum: 



PRACTICAL CLOVER GROWING. 



CHAPTER VII. 



In previous chapters we have described the general range- 
of the clovers, and discussed somewhat in detail the varieties 
usually grown in different sections of the country. In this 
we take up the best methods of practical management. These 
methods will vary in different localities, often in the same 
neighborhood, and on the same farm. The first question 
for the farmer to decide is the variety or varieties he can use 
with profit in his latitude and longitude, and in connection 
with the system of farming which he has adopted. While it 
is well for the enterprising farmer to experiment with new 
varieties, but always on a small scale, it is folly to devote any 
considerable part of his farm to a variety thathas not been found' 
entirely reliable and reasonably well adapted to his section of 
the country and to his system of farming. By "entirely reli- 
able" we do not mean a variety that will grow well enough; 
in an occasional wet year, or that will survive an unusually 
mild winter, but one that can be depended upon fromyear to^ 
year as a part of a regular rotation. While latitude and lon- 
gitude must always be taken into account, the rainfall, the 
rotation and the nature of the soil must be considered as welL. 

The next thing to be determined is the object in view in 
growing clovers. If the object is to secure hay and fall pas- 
ture, and store up fertility for future crops of corn and other 
grain, his reliance in all sections where it is a sure crop, must 
be on the common red clover. If his object be mainly fertil- 
ity in connection with a cash crop of clover seed, then the 
mammoth should have the preference. If the object be- pas.- 
ture as an ultimate end, to be grown year after, year, bn the- 
same land, and always ready to be plowed under for a eonu 



70 CLOVER CULTURE. 

crop, should circumstances seem to justify it, then he can use 
to advantage in the North, both the red and the mammoth; 
and, if his lands are unusually moist, the alsike. If he wishes 
to lay down his lands in permanent pasture, not to be broken 
up for an indefinite number of years, he can use all these and 
the white clover in addition. If he is located in sections 
where the above varieties are not reliable, and he wishes a 
permanent clover meadow, or a crop for summer soiling, his 
main reliance must be alfalfa, provided always that he has a 
soil that is not immediately underlaid with impervious clay, 
gumbo, hardpan or rock. If he has land under irrigation 
there is no forage plant that will take the place of alfalfa as a 
permanent meadow. If he resides in the mountain or Pacific 
coast states and cannot irrigate his land, he must use the 
annuals native to that region; if in the extreme Southern 
states, his main reliance must be on the Japan, and if in the 
border states, where the winters are sufficiently mild, he can 
use to great advantage the crimson. Bearing in mind the 
uses and fitness of each variety, every farmer must make a 
selection for himself. 

The object in view in growing clovers having been clear- 
ly determined and a judicious selection made after a thorough 
study of the resources of the country and of the particular 
farm, the next practical question is the determination of the 
mixture to be used, either of the clovers by themselves, or in 
connection with other grasses. Much harm has been done 
by the recommendation by seedsmen and some agricultural 
papers, of grass mixtures selected on purely theoretical 
grounds, and without reference to the wants. of either the sec- 
tion of the country or the individual farmer. Many of the 
mixtures seem to have been taken from English works, and 
are frequently made up of grasses which have generally failed 
wherever tried in the Western states, and where they have 
succeeded, have proved inferior to the grasses and clovers in 
common use that have been demonstrated, after years of ex- 
perience, to be extremely valuable. All mixtures that contain 
English rye grass, Italian rye grass, sheep's fescue, crested 
dog's tail and such like grasses, should be rejected, as there 
are few sections in the West in which these grasses will stand 
either the extreme cold of winter or the extreme heat of sum- 
mer. The recommendation to sow orchard grass, red top or 
meadow fescue should be well considered before purchasing 
the seed. These three latter grasses are valuable in their 
place, but only in certain locations and under certain condi- 



CLOVER CULTURE. 71 

tions, which will be hereafter described. Always keeping in 
mind the fact that no mixture can be prescribed that will 
fit every modification of circumstances, and that all proposed 
mixtures must be taken only as general suggestions to be 
modified by local conditions, and sometimes by the price ot 
the various seeds, we venture to recommend some mixtures 
that will be found to be valuable to farmers, especially in the 
corn and grass belts of the West. There are many farmers 
whose great aim in growing clover is to increase the waning 
fertility of their soil. They have not reached the point where 
they are prepared to engage in what is called in a vague way, 
* 'diversified farming." They have neither the capital nor 
the experience that would justify them in engaging in stock 
growing to any very great extent, and are depending upon 
the sale of grain for shipment to the great markets, to lift the 
mortgage on their land, usually given for purchase money. 
This accomplished, they are ready to build barns, fences, 
sheds, plant groves and sow a diversity of grasses and invest 
in improved stock. To these we suggest the sowing of mam- 
moth clover alone on every crop of spring grain. If this is 
sown at the rate of twelve pounds per acre, and covered as 
directed in Chapter III, it will, in all ordinary seasons, in a 
clover country, make a stand that will furnish pasturage for 
the limited stock on the farm during the fall months, or if 
fenced in common with the corn fields, will make the corn 
stalks (which are seldom used by this class of farmers except 
for pasture), doubly valuable as a winter feed. The crop can 
then be plowed under the next spring in time for corn. The 
cost will not ordinarily be more than $i.oo or $1.25 per acre, 
part of which will be covered by the fall pasturage, and the 
rest by an increase of two bushels per acre in the corn crop. 
Without definite experiments to guide us, and judging from 
the returns of corn from clover roots that have been allowed 
to mature a seed crop and then turned under, we should not 
expect a smaller increase than from eight to ten bushels per 
acre the next year. It is much better, however, after a stand 
has once been secured, to allow the crop, after a reasonable 
amount of fall pasturing, to stand another year, and then to 
take a crop of seed the next season after pasturing it, where 
it is practicable, into June and then fall-plow for corn the 
next year. Our experience justifies us in estimating the 
increase in the next corn crop at from fifteen to twenty-five 
bushels per acre the first year, and not quite so much the sec- 
ond. The soil will then be left in better condition as regards 



72 CLOVER CULTURE. 

fertility than before the first clover was sown. The crop of 
mammoth clover seed, under these conditions, is much more 
certain than that from the common red, and an average yield 
would be somewhere in the neighborhood of three bushels 
per acre, provided always that it is all secured. 

Another class of farmers, who have given more attention 
to stock growing and have their farms fenced in separate 
fields, desire more or less tame hay as well as fall pasture. 
For these we recommend the mixture described below. If the 
rotation they have adopted be such that they can allow the 
land to rest two years in grass, we would sow a mixture of 
ten pounds of common red clover and eight pounds of timo- 
thy, sown with spring grain and covered to the depth that is 
found best in the soils of the neighborhood, as explained more 
fully in Chapter III. The first year the stand will be mostly 
clover, and it it is desired to secure the seed crop, this should 
be mown, in the latitude ot central Iowa, before July ist. If 
for any reason there should be a failure in the seed crop, the 
second growth or aftermath will yield a large amount of fall 
pasturage, except in seasons and localities of very extreme 
drouth. The next year timothy will take the lead, most of 
the clover having died the previous winter, and that which 
survives being, for the most part, plants from seed that, for 
some reason, did not germinate the first year. Under these 
circumstances, an ordinary season seldom fails to produce a 
large crop of timothy, due to the fact that it finds an abund- 
ant supply of all the elements of fertility in the decaying 
roots of the clover that perished the previous winter. 

Under ordinary circumstances the land should then be 
plowed for corn, although if it has been pastured off after the 
second crop has had a chance to reseed the ground, the pre- 
vious year, clover is likely to assert its supremacy the follow- 
ing year. If it does the field can be kept as a permanent 
meadow, in many sections at least, for an indefinite number 
of years, each second crop contributing its quota of seed. We 
have this year taken the eleventh crop from part of a field 
managed in this way, and the yield has been larger, both in 
clover and timothy, than from the first year's sowing. Where 
the intention from the first is to establish a permanent mead- 
ow of this kind, we advise in all sections where orchard grass 
{dactylis glomeratd) does well, to sow it with the previous 
mixture at the rate of half a bus»hel per acre, mixing the seed 
with sand or road dust to secure an even cast, sowing after 
the clover and timothy have been covered, and covering the 



CLOVER CULTURE. 73 

orchard grass with a brush harrow. Orchard grass does well, 
as a rule, south of the latitude of central Iowa and Nebraska, 
and has a westward range much further than clover. How 
far north this mixture can be used depends very much on the 
nature of the exposure and the p*-otection furnished by groves, 
windbreaks and other grasses. The reasons for adding or- 
chard grass to this mixture are two: First, It is about the 
only grass that will be fit to cut for hay at the time the com- 
mon red clover is at its best estate. Second, We know of no 
grass, except clover, that will yield such an abundant after- 
math. If, therefore, the amount of timothy above suggested 
be lessened and orchard grass added, the result will be, wher- 
ever this grass does well, an amount of fall pasture that is 
surprising to farmers who do not know the capabilities of a 
soil well set in the best grasses. However, where orchard 
grass forms any consideiable portion of the sward, it should 
not be plowed up except after a term of years, for the reason 
that the seed is expensive, and the grass being a perennial or 
growing from year to year from thesame root, should be used 
as long as its usefulness continues. 

By using clover in any of the ways above suggested, it is 
possible to keep up the fertility of the soil for a great length 
of time, depending upon the amount of phosphoric acid and 
potash that are available, or that may become available by the 
disintegration of the primary rock of which all soils are largely 
composed. As to how long it might require to exhaust the pot- 
ash and phosphoric acid on the drift soils of the West no one is 
yet competent to express an opinion. This, however, should 
be distinctly understood, that if the crops grown with the aid 
of clover as well as the clover itself are removed from the soil 
and no manure returned, the land will become permanently 
exhausted and cannot be restored to its wonted fertility with- 
out the costly, hazardous and uncertain experiment of the use 
of commercial fertilizers. 

As clover itself is a large consumer of phosphoric acid and 
potash the first symptom woulcTlrkely be that the soil would 
refuse to grow clover and become, in popular language, 
"clover sick." This, however, is not a proper use of the 
term, the true clover sickness being a disease that affects the 
clover in the fall of the year and after it has made a vigorous 
growth during the spring and summer months. We wish, 
therefore, to impress with the utmost clearness and distinct- 
ness on the mind of the reader this fact, that he cannot goon 
forever obtaining large crops by the use of clover unless he 



74 CLOVER CULTURE. 

restores to the land, in the shape of barnyard manure, or im 
some other way, the mineral elements which it, as well as the 
other crops, have removed from it. 

As proof of the value of the clovers, sown and managed 
as above described, we have only to point to the cornfields 
grown on clover sod in any year, and especially in wet years, 
in any part of the country, but particularly in the West, a? 
compared with corn grown on like land after other crops and 
treated in all respects similarly. The natural drainage formed. 
by the partially rotted soil renders earlier planting possible,, 
the decaying roots furnishing an abundant supply of nitrogen, 
in the best condition for the use of the plant; and the result, 
in the worst corn seasons, is a crop that cannot fail to be largely 
profitable. There is, however, no.surer way to exhaust perma- 
nently the fertility of the soil than to continue the process we 
have outlined above without restoring in some way the potash 
and phosphoric acid that have been removed by this stimulat- 
ing process. 

Where it is desired to use the clovers in connection with 
the other grasses as a permanent pasture, a diflferent mixture 
should be adopted. If the land has been in cultivation, audi 
it is desired to sow the grass .seed with spring grains, we sug- 
gest the following mixture: 

Red Clover 5 pounds 

Mammoth Clover 5 pounds- 
Timothy 6 pounds. 

Blue Grass •,...•• 6 pounds- 

White Clover 1 pound 

The principles laid down in Chapter III should be ob- 
served with regard to the depth of covering, the moist soils 
requiring shallower, and the light and dry soils a deeper cov- 
ering. As the object in the permanent pasture is to secure 
as far as possible a constant succession of fresh grass and of 
bloom, it would be well to add to, or substitute in part for the 
above mixture any other grasses that are known to do well in 
the particular locality. For example, we would add, in the 
latitude of .southern Iowa, 3 or 4 pounds of orchard grass. On 
wet lands we would leave out half the red and mammoth 
clovers and substitute five pounds of alsike. Where red-top 
does better than timothy, as it does in some of the southern 
states, or better than blue grass, as in some of the extreme 
northern, we would reduce the timothy and blue grass and 
substitute red-top in part. In a pasture seeded as above, the 
orchard trrass will furnish the first bite, so desirable in the 



CLOVER CULTURE. 75 

■early spring, the blue grass coming next, followed by 
timothy and clovers. After maturing seed the blue g^rass will 
rest while the clovers are making their most vigorous growth, 
but will revive and take full possession of the field when the 
clovers are taking time to ripen their seed crop. The dispo- 
sition of blue grass and white clover to usurp full possession 
of permanent pastures renders it somewhat difl!icult to retain 
the red and mammoth. The difficulty may be overcome by 
scarifying the surface with a disc harrow and then sowing the 
seeds of the red and mammoth clovers, or by scattering ma- 
nure containing these seeds on such pastures during the win- 
ter season. On some soils especially adapted to clovers, these 
retain their place in the permanent pasture much longer than 
on others, and in all pastures there is a constant contest among 
the grasses themselves for the supremacy. 

Where it is desirable to seed rough lands in prairie grass- 
es to permanent pasture, the following mixture, per acre, 
may be used with advantage: 

Red Clover 8 pounds 

Blue Grass 7 pounds 

White Clover 1 pound 

This should be sown before the frost leaves the ground 
in the spring, the wild grass having been burned off the pre- 
vious autumn. It should then be pastured heavily, prefera- 
bly with sheep, calves or hogs, in order to check the growth 
of the wild grasses and allow the cultivated varieties air and 
sunlight. The tramping of the soil will insure covering, 
and, unless the ground be excessively wet, will not materi- 
ally injure the young plants of the cultivated grasses. The 
pasturing should be as close as possible the first year, but in 
the second year the red clover should be allowed to produce 
seed and thus re-seed the ground. For some reason we have 
never succeeded. so well on these pastures with mammoth 
clover as with the common red. Where a large acreage is to 
be seeded it is not practicable usually to pasture with either 
sheep, hogs or calves. In that case yearling or two-year-old 
steers should be used, and enough should be turned in to 
keep the wild grass very short during the entire summer. 
The only difficulty in this method of seeding is that the best 
results in securing a speedy transformation of the wild into 
the tame pasture require more cattle to the acre than is 
profitable for their owner. 

We are no|' prepared to say how far West of the Mis.souri 



76 CLOVER CULTURE. 

the method of seedinj^: with a nurse crop' will prove successfu 
on account of lack of summer moisture. It has proved a fail- 
ure under drier conditions than prevail east of the Missouri, 
and Nebraska and Kansas farmers have resorted to the meth- 
od of cutting the prairie sod with heavily loaded disc harrows, 
and then sowing grass seeds as above described. We are in- 
clined to think tliat the rule will hold good that wherever 
the tame grasses require to be sowed alone without a nurse 
crop the wild pastures will require to be disced in order that 
the grass seeds may secure an early and rapid growth to ena- 
ble them to withstand the coming drouth. 

In practical clover management the amount of moisture 
that can be confidently expected must always be borne in 
mind. While in the entire country east of the Missouri and 
for some distance west, it is entirely practicable to sow the 
grass seeds with spring grains, it is unsafe, as a rule west of 
that river. If they are sown with oats especially the growth 
is necessarily limited, the plants are delicate and "spindling," 
and when the nurse crop is removed the hot sun is almost 
certain to greatly weaken, if not entirely destroy, the stand. 
This is true to some extent with the oats crop in Iowa and 
Missouri, and especially during the excessively hot seasons. 
The rule, therefore, west of the Missouri, except in unusually 
moist soils, should be to sow grass seeds as a crop by them- 
selves. The ground should be carefully prepared , clover and 
timothy seed covered to the depth usually given to oats or 
spring wheat, and the tame grasses allowed the full use of 
the ground. The weeds will spring up with the young 
grasses and these should be mowed off once 'or twice during 
the summer, if necessary, setting the mower somewhat high 
thus allowing the young plants to have the full measure of 
sunshine and air. By this method it is possible to grow the 
tame grasses far beyond the limit set by public opinion, based 
on previous experience, and by the methods usualjin localities 
where the moisture is more abundant. This necessarily in- 
volves a change in the rotation which will be discussed more 
fully in the next chapter. 

It will be found, however, that wherever the clovers can 
be relied upon as a permanent crop, they can be grown quite 
successfully without a nurse crop. 

There is a point west of the Missouri where the growth 
of red, mammoth, white and alsike clover is souncertain that 
alfalfa should be used as a substitute. Just where this line is 
has not yet been detewnined by actual experierK:e. It is not ? 



CLOVER CULTURE. 77 

line marked out by degrees of latitude or longitude, — the de- 
termining factors are the geological formation of the soil and 
its capacity to hold moisture and rainfall. We are inclined 
to the belief that the ordinary clovers can be used with suc- 
cess east of a line running from Norfolk, Nebraska, to Kear- 
ney, and south to the Republioan, east along that river and 
south to some distance west of Topeka. It will be found by 
practical experienoe that they can be grown in many places 
west of the line indicated. Where these can not be grown, 
alfalfa is the best substitute among thegrasses yet discovered. 
It is grown without irrigation quite successfully on all soils 
west ol this line that do not rest on hardpan or rock, and 
while it cannot take the place of clovers in rotation, it is the 
best substitute among the grasses yet discovered. It is proba- 
ble that on many of these soils west of the line indicated, and 
possibly in some places east of it, the soy bean will prove a 
better crop, especially in view of its adaptation to rotations, 
than either the clovers usually grown or alfalfa. 

Under the present conditions from ten to twenty per 
cent, of the lands east of the Great Divide in Iowa comprising 
sloughs, swales and bottoms are too wet for cultivation, and 
the time for tile drainage has not yet fully come. In the course 
of a few years farmers will realize the importance of tile drain- 
ing all these sloughs. In the meantime much can be done 
to render them profitable by the use of alsike clover. The 
method of sowing is similar to that recommended in the case 
of prairie lands which it is desirable to seed without plowing. 
Whatever grass may be upon the land of the previous year's 
growth should be burned off in the tall, and these lands, 
whether sloughs, swales, or bottoms, annually wet or subject 
to overflow, should be sown to alsike before the frost leaves 
the ground in the spring, at the rate of about four pounds of 
seed per acre. As it is not ordinarily practicable to pasture 
these lands, especially sloughs which meander through culti- 
vated fields, the mower should be run over them after^ first 
leveling the ant hils with a spade, and thus the rank growth 
of slough grass kept under control. This will give the alsike 
air and sunlight and ordinarily secure a fair stand the first 
year.© The second year the entire crop of alsike and slough 
grass may be cut for hay; or, if desirable, threshed for seed. 
The effect of this method will be, in a year or two, to greatly 
decrease the size of the slough and dry out bottom lands, the 
decay of the roots of the wild grasses allowing the water to 
sink away, and where it is practical to pasture them, especial- 



78 CLOVER CULTURE 

ly with heavy cattle, the compression of the soil by their weight 
will narrow the slough, and when this process has been begun 
it is practicable to sow the red, mammoth and white clovers. 
In this way the unsightly sloughs which disfigure a great part 
of the Western country, may be converted into meadows, to 
the profit of the farmer and a great improvement in the ap- 
pearance of the farm. 




CURING GLOVER HAY. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



The problem of curing clover hay at its best estate, where 
the acreage is large and the weather uncertain, is one of the 
most difficult and perplexing that awaits the solution of the 
practical farmer. The problem is to evaporate at the least 
Expense of labor the large water content in clover, when cut 
when it should be, with the least possible damage to the hay, 
either from excessive drying, from rainfall or from dew. An- 
alyses made at dijBferent times and places and collected and 
published by the Department of Agriculture show that clover 
before bloom has from 61.2 to 82.7 percent, of water, with an 
average of 72; in bloom, from 47.1 to 91.8 with an average of 
72.7; after bloom from 61. i to 74.2 with an average of 68.2,, 
the average of all analyses giving a minimum of 47. i and a max- 
imum of 91.8 and an average of 70.8. Analyses of clover hay- 
cured before bloom give a minimum of 6 per cent., and ai 
maximum of 31.3, with an average of 20.6; in bloom a mini- 
mum of Q.4, a maximum of 26.7, an average of 20.9, while the 
average of all analyses, numbering some thirty-eight of clover 
hay, give a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 31.3, with aver- 
age of 15.3. 

Mr. W. H. Heileman, under the directicn of Prof. Wil- 
son, of the Iowa Agricultural College and Experiment Station, 
located at Ames, Iowa, has taken samples of clover as nearly as 
possible in the best condition for cutting for hay, has analyzed 
samples of it when cut, has cured the rest into hay in the 
proper condition for storage, and analyzed the different samples,, 
and also like samples of hay thoroughly cured in the mow^ 
with the following results: 

Total moisture in a sample of clover in its best condition 

(79) 



T50 CLOVER CULTURE. 

for cutting, 75.90. The total moisture in sample of well 
cured hay, 16.62. Moisture in clover hay after being in the 
barn twenty days, 12.22. From this it will be seen that the 
amount evaporated in the process of curing was 58.28 per 
cent. ,and_^that an additional amount of 4.40 was lost in the barn 
ill twenty days. In other words, after losing in the process 
of curing 58.28 per cent, of the original moisture, 26.48 per 
cent, of what remains is lost after storage in the mow for 
twenty days. On the basis which these figures furnish, 100 
pounds of green clover cut at the proper season and cured in 
its best estate, will make 41.72 pounds of hay ready for the 
mow. Twenty days after storing it will weigh 37.32 pounds. 
The shrinkage probably continues in a variable, but gradually 
decreasing degree for a considerable time longer, the variation 
depending on the season and the average humidity of the at- 
mosphere which surrounds it. 

It will thus be seen that the problem before the farmer 
in making hay is to get rid of about 60 per cent, of the weight 
of the clover by evaporation in the sunshine and wind, and to 
do this with the least possible expense, and least danger of 
damage from scorching by the sun, from rainfall or dew. 
The problem in the Eastern states, where the crop is small, 
labor plenty and barn room abundant, and where there is 
little necessity for the use of special machinery, is a compar- 
atively easy one. Under these circumstances, the clover can 
be taken in its ideal condition, that is, when about one-third 
of the heads are turned brown and nearly every stalk in 
bloom, and can be converted into ideal hay, with but little 
risk of exposure to sun, rain or dew. By the use of the 
mower an hour or two in the afternoon or evening, a sufficient 
amount of the crop for the next day's operations can be cut 
down. By stirring it once or twice with the tedder in the 
morning it will part with sufficient of its water to enable it to 
be placed in cocks. These can then be covered with hay caps 
made either from ducking, muslin or wood pulp, and allowed 
to remain until they go through the sweating process, whether 
that be two days or a week. A hay day can then be taken, 
ithe caps removed and the crop stowed away in the barn. The 
Grst crop treated in this way, a crop of seed in the fall from 
the common red clover is reasonably certain. 

The conditions are widely different, however, in the 
West. There the crop is usually large, running as a rule 
from forty acres to several hundred on a farm, and machinery 
specially adapted to the work becomes a necessity on account 



CLOVER CUIvTURB. 81 

of the magnitude of the crop and the high price of labor. It 
is by no means difficult to secure a crop of clover hay under 
these conditions, provided it be allowed to stand until the 
heads are nearly all turned brown and the stalks have parted 
with a large amount of their water content; but the hay is hyr 
this delay very seriously damaged in quality. With the or- 
dinary farmer hay is hay, and, hay made in its best estate, is 
regarded as but little superior to hay made from clover which 
has become largely woody fiber and therefore to a great extent 
indigestible. The farmer has no means of determining the 
food value of this hay, nor of comparing it with clover hay 
made in its best estate. He notices that some seasons his 
cattle eat a very large amount of it, and at other seasons a 
comparatively small amount, with about the same final ap^ 
parent result in thrift, but he attributes this difference in the 
spending quality to the temperature, or to (he previous con- 
dition of the cattle and other stock, whereas it may lie almost 
wholly in the difference in the nutritive value of the hay fed,, 
due to the time of cutting and manner of curing. We know 
of no experiments covering this ground, and hence are obliged 
to fall back on certain well-known principles, namely, that 
all grasses after they have passed their bloom, with the possi- 
ble exception of timothy, develop woody fiber very rapidly,, 
and that this woody fiber is to a very great extent indigestible, 
and hence useless. Corn fodder cut when the ears are glazed 
as compared with corn fodder cut when the blades are brown ; 
furnishes an example of the change that goes on in clover. . 
It is, therefore, an easy matter to make clover hay in th€ West, , 
provided it is allowed to stand until half its nutritive value is; 
lost; it is often a very difficult matter when cut with thej 
maximum of nutriment in the plant. It is as near that point 
as possible when in full bloom. On account of the difference 
in the blooming period in any one field, the central heads of 
the stalk or branch blooming first, and the later and earlier 
varieties being grouped under the one term, red clover, the 
farmer is obliged to allow about one-third of the heads to tura 
in order to get the maximum of bloom. 

In dealing with clover, it must always be borne in mind? 
that it is a wonderful evaporator of moisture. That is the 
habit of its entire life. All close observers are familiar with 
this fact, that no matter how thoroughly saturated the soil oF 
the clover field may be by recent rains which the magnitude 
of the crop will not allow to run off, it soon becomes dry, and 
that solely through the enormous evaporation from the leaves^ 



«2 CLOVER CUIvTURE. 

'This habit of its life clings to it in death. When mown, it 
•evaporates its water so rapidly that in a short time under a 
hot sun and in a dry wind the leaves, the most valuable part 
of it, are dried to the point where they crumble to pieces in 
handling. The problem before the farmer is to avoid this 
■crumbling, and at the same time secure such an amount of 
-evaporation from the stalk that it is in condition to go into 
the barn. The destruction of the structure of the leaf by too 
Tapid drying destroys its power to evaporate water from the 
stalk, and hence it is possible to have the leaves dry, almost 
■charred, in fact, and their evaporating power destroyed, while 
the stalk may yet remain full of sap. When clover is very 
heavy, say three tons of cured hay to the acre, it is not an un- 
■common thing to see the leaf structure on the surface of the 
swath destroyed, while the underlying grass is almost as green 
as when it first felt the edge of the sickle. To avoid this we 
regard as the essential point, the very key to the situation in 
the curing of clover hay. The leaves must be preserved, not 
merely for their own sake, but for their use in evaporating 
the juices or sap of the stalk. It is this consideration that 
makes the use of the tedder so imperative when clover hay is 
cut when it should be to secure the best quality of hay, and 
at the same time a reasonable chance for a seed crop. 

It must be remembered that the only practical agencies 
which the farmer can use for the ev poration of the surplus 
moisture are the sunshine and the wind, and the whole prob- 
lem lies in exposing to the fullest extent the fresh-cut grass 
to the sun and wind so as to secure the requisite amount of 
■evaporation in the shortest possible time, apd in the best part 
of the day. It must never be forgotten that while clover parts 
with its moisture readily, the evaporating power of its leaves 
being usually great, it absorbs moisture with almost equal 
readiness. A heavy swath of clover lying on damp ground 
will keep green for days, especially if the atmosphere is heav- 
ily laden with moisture, which it sometimes is even in the 
hottest weather. We have had it after two days of hot sun 
so dry on the top of the swath as to be seriously damaged, 
while the bottom was almost as green, to all appearance, as 
when first cut. It absorbs dew like a sponge and in fact be- 
gins to take up water from the air in a day when the atmos- 
phere is full of moisture, long before the dew begins to form. 
Much of the damage to clover hay arises from the failure on 
the part of the farmer to comprehend this wonderful powei 
of the clovers to absorb as well as evaporate moisture. On 



CLOVER CULTURE. 83 

the other haud, it must be remembered that the damage to 
clover whether in the stack or barn comes nearly always from 
the outside moisture, whether in the iorm of rain or dew or ab- 
sorbed from an atmosphere loaded with moisture. We do not 
undertake to explain why it is that the juices of the plant are 
comparatively harmless even when somewhat in excess, but 
such we take to be the fact. 

With these preliminary statements we are prepared to 
describe what we regard as the best practical method of man- 
aging clover, cut in its best condition and under circumstances 
prevalent on the average western farm. The mowing should 
be done as far as possible in the evening, say after four o'clock. 
A wide-cut mower, say six or seven feet, will enable the op- 
erator to cut down a comparatively large acreage, and especially 
if he runs the machine quite late in the evening. The time 
of the man, team and mower is worth a great deal more an 
hour after sundown than in the heat of the day. Clover is 
not damaged in the least by being cut with the dew on or 
slightly wet and the heat of the sun from four until six is sel- 
dom sufficient to render clover cut during these hours liable 
to damage even if wet with dew or rain in the night. The 
first work in the early morning should be to start the tedder, 
one wide enough to take two swaths, and drawn by a span of 
fast-walking horses. The more directly upwards the tedder 
tosses the hay, the better. This shakes oif dew or rain, and 
leaves the mass in the best possible shape for the circulation 
of the air and most exposed to the action of the sun. A good 
tedder with a team of this kind can cover a large amount of 
ground in a few hours, and by repeating the operation, in 
good weather, clover can be fit to go into the barn in the 
afternoon. 

We cannot describe in words the amount of dry ne.ss neces- 
sary for safety in storing hay. This can be learned only by 
experience. When a stem of hay is taken in the hand and 
tightly twisted and no moisture is observed on the outside of 
the stalk, it is generally safe to store it. This, however, is 
conditioned somewhat upon the amount ot moisture in the 
atmosphere, and only experience can tell the exact ideal con- 
dition. This condition being attained, in the best judgment 
of the manager, the work of storing away should be done as 
quickly as possible. It is here that the hay loader becomes 
valuable, inasmuch as with a good loader a ton can be placed 
on the wagon in from fifteen to twenty minutes and removed 
in much less time with a horse fork and hay sling. By this 



a dUOVER CULTURE. 

method of handling the hay, the labor of cocking it, or raking 
it into windrows, the expense of hay caps, etc., are avoided: 
Where the crop is light, say one and one-half tons to the acre, 
it is necessary to use the hay rake for speedy loading, and 
under these circumstances the second tedding may be omitted 
and the hay loaded out of a small windrow. 

It requires nice judgment to know what to do with hay 
partially cured that has been caught in a heavy rain. In the 
West storms are frequently accompanied with such high 
winds, and the down-pour is so heavy that hay anywhere near 
cured, if put in a cock, will be soaked to the bottom. If 
caught in a windrow or bunched it is in a worse condition, 
when thoroughly wet, than if it were scattered on the ground. 
It will need to be shaken out before storing away, and every 
time hay is handled after partially cured and then soaked, it 
is seriously damaged. We have seen it in hot weather with 
the atmosphere laden with moisture, utterly ruined in twen- 
ty-four hours in the windrow. The best way is to keep the 
work well in hand and the loader well up with the work, so> 
that but a small amount of hay fit to go into the barn or shed 
can be exposed to threatened rain. It is almost as easy with 
improved machinery and an adequate force to put hay in the 
barn or shed as it is to put it in cock, and when once in the 
cock and completely soaked, it is about as well to let it stand 
until it dries out of itself. Half its value will be lost in the 
handling and if allowed to stand till winter it is likely to be 
no worse. In a matter requiring as sound judgment and 
prompt action as curing clover hay, no minute directions can 
be given. Experience will best suggest details. It should 
be borne in mind that the damage which hay in the process 
of curing receives from rain, is proportionate to the stage to 
which the curing process has been carried. The more thor- 
oughly it has been cured, the more damage it receives from 
the same amount of rain. The less it is handled after being 
once wet, when partially cured, the less ultimate damage will 
result. It is almost impossible in ordinary seasons to secure 
a crop ot clover hay in the best condition without the use of 
barns or hay sheds. If the farmer is to wait until settled 
weather before commencing to stack and hasten the rounding 
out and covering ot the stack when a cloud appears on the 
horizon, his work must necessarily be greatly* hindered. 
All farmers cannot have expensive barns, but it is possible for 
every farmer who has twenty acres of clover hay to build a hay 
shed that will hold his crop, and by facilitating the process of 



CLOVER CULTURE. 85 

harvestingit, payagcod interest on the investment and a much 
larger interest in the way of protecting the crop after it is 
harvested. The damage to clover hay in the stack under the 
most favorable conditions is not less than twelve per cent, in 
the first three weeks, even if in that timethereshould not have 
been a drop of rain. This arises from the heating of the hay, 
(which is unavoidable) the deposit of the ascending moisture 
on the outside of the stack during the night and the consequent 
bleaching of the entire outer surface. The loss from this 
cause has been quite fully investigated by someof our Experi- 
ment Stations, and we think that in stating it at twelve per 
■cent, we are making a very conservative estimate. It is pos- 
sible to erect a hay shed that will hold fifty tons of hay, with- 
out cattle shedding around it, for $ioo. With this the farm- 
■er does not need to wait for settled weather and can stow 
away a load whenever it is cured. The advantages are none 
the less in feeding it out in the winter. There is no waste in 
stacks partially used, no stack bottoms wet with rain or snow, 
no loss in hauling from the stack to the feed yard, and we 
therefore urge every farmer who wishes to make or feed hay 
economically to provide himself with one of these useful 
buildings. 

We have emphasized the importance of the use of the 
tedder. There are years when it will not be needed, as, for 
example, when by reason of the lateness of the season the 
corn cannot be laid by in time to secure a hay crop in the best 
condition, or when by reason of the lack of hay weather the 
crop is cut late, or when the crop is lightor toolarge tosecure 
it at its best, but we strongly urge every farmer who wishes to se- 
cure a crop of clover hay that will feed out satisfactorily, to pro- 
vide himself with one of these useful implements. After sever- 
al years' experience we would not undertake to secure alarge 
crop of heavy clover at the proper season without one. We 
know of no implement that will so well secure thorough and 
even curing of the hay and guard against both the over-cur- 
ing that leads to the loss of the leaves and the wet, uncured 
bunches that do so much to set up destructive fermentation in 
the mow and induce, under certain conditions, spontaneous 
combustion in the barn. 

The destruction of many barns from mysterious and un- 
known causes since the introduction of clover culture in the 
West renders a discussion of the subject a fitting conclusion 
to a chapter on curing clover. Too many of these barns have 
been destroyed by fire to allow the farmer to regard the prob- 



86 CLOVER CULTURE. 

lem of spontaneous combustion as of interest merely to the 
scientist or perhaps to the manufacturer. While it has 
long been known that spontaneous combustion is liable to 
occur in heaps of rubbish containing oil and other carbon- 
aceous matters in a state of minute distribution, it has been 
steadily held by the majority of scientists that under no cir- 
cumstances is the spontaneous combustion of clover hay pos 
sible. The mysterious fires that have occurred in barns, sheds 
and stacks have been regarded as the results of accident, or 
the farmer's pipe, or the nibbling by mice of matches dropped 
out of the boy's pocket as he was tramping the hay in the mow. 
As late as the summer of 1889, Professor Sanborn, one of the 
highest authorities on such questions, in answer to an inquiry 
in the Breeders^ Gazette^ of Chicago, said : 

In fact, I never knew before this case, of a barn burning where 
either lightning, coal oil lanterns or satisfactory evidence of incendiarism 
— generally for insurance — was not the easily inciting cause. Hay or 
fodder that is green enough to ferment will pack closely in a mow by its^ 
very weight, and as it heats it settles closer and closer, of course exclud- 
ing the circulation of the air, except it be by a very slow movement. As 
the hotter part is the center of the mow, it will be seen to be very doubt- 
ful whether air, always essential to flame, will be present in amount 
sufficient to produce flame. I doubt whether spontaneous combustion of 
hay or corn fodder is possible. 

We had, ever since our attention had been called to the 
matter, held to the same view. There are frequently myste- 
rious things connected with fires, and the occasional loss ot 
barns from no apparent cause seems to us no more mysterious 
than dozens ot cases of fires in cities. 

During the month of September, 1889, we received a 
letter from Mr. H. R. Leaming, of Wyoming, Iowa, of which 
we quote the important part: 

Enclosed find a sample of clover hay put up in June, on the third day 
after cutting, in a bam that would hold a hundred tons. It became so hot 
that it could not be held in the naked hand, and tons of it are completely 
spoiled. Farmers are in a panic here about their hay. Stacks and barns 
are taking fire and they do not know what to do. Fifty tons .of hay burn< d 
within one-half mile of my own farm last night, from its own heat. This 
hay was watched as it was expected to burn, and there wks no question as to 
its cause. One barn, two miles east of here, was emptied of its hay day be- 
fore yesterday, that was already on fire in the inside of the mow and kept 
down by water till it was hauled out to the field. After being hauled out 
it took fire and burned completely up. 

The letter in full may be found in the Homestead oi Oc- 
tober ist,of the year named, and furnishes clear and convinc- 
ing proof of at least more than one case of spontaneous com- 
bustion. About the same time two cases were reported, one 



CLOVER CULTURE. 87 

from Gilman, Hancock County, Iowa, and one from Man- 
chester, Delaware County, Iowa. In the Manchester case the 
barn was the property ot Mr. I. G. Clute, and was insured in 
the Farmers' Insurance Co., of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The 
adjuster of the company makes the following statement in the 
Cedar Rapids, (Iowa) Gazette: 

The barn was 60x100 feet, the mow beiug 40x90, and about 30 feet deep, 
containing nearly 500 tons of hay. Early in haying season green clover had. 
been put in one bent, and ever since it had been heating until at last it took 
fire by spontaneous combustion. When discovered, there was in three 
chimney holes, as the neighbors called them, a blue blaze springing out over 
each, some two or three feet under the roof. The fire was located far be- 
neath at the depth of thirty feet. . . . This blue blaze was gas, and the 
depths beneath were a gas well on a small scale. One hundred and three 
neighbors collected to fight the fire and worked two days and nights to save 
the hay. Thirteen out of the one hundred and three succumbed to the effects 
of the gas and had to stop work, one being so violently ill as a result that 
he is not likely to recover. 

We have from time to time received accounts of the spon- 
taneous combustion of clover hay, but the above embraces 
nearly every distinct feature. The first phenomenon is ex- 
cessive heating in the center of the mow or stack ; then the 
formation of funnels through which gas escapes at a tempera- 
ture high enough to cook eggs in a few minutes, corroding at 
the same time the shell and the lining or membrane which 
encloses the ^%^^ sometimes followed by flame and sometimes 
not. Instances often occur in which the combustion has been 
arrested, and in the heart of the stack may be found a mass 
of charcoal. 

We sent a sample of this charcoal taken from the mow of 
Mr. C. H. Seager, of Gilman, Iowa, whose barn was burned 
in the fall of 1889, to Prof Sanborn, asking his opinion of 
this new evidence of spontaneous combustion, and we quote a 
part of his reply, as follows: 

* "All preconceived views of the matter are puerile before facts. The 
charred material looks much like matter burned in an air insufficient for 
full combustion. Charring does not imply flame, but rather the con- 
trary. The heating of green food in the mow is due to a ferment and 
not to direct oxidation in the old sense of the word, or in the sense that 
wood is burned. Will the ferments (low plant life) thus produce self-de- 
struction or carry fermentation forward until it becomes oxidation? Fer- 
mentation ceases with loss of moisture, and flame will not occur where 
it is abundant. I confess I never saw such charred material as you have 
forwarded to me. While it does not follow that combustion need be the 
result, I confess to the belief that the circumstances do not warrant the 
denial of the possibility of it, at least by me, with the evidence before 
me. I hope that you will obtain the views of the highest biological 
authority in the country, for the question is an interesting and impor- 
tant one." 



88 CLOVER CULTURE. 

In tlie state of Iowa in 1889, there were not less than one 
hundred cases ot" spontaneous combustion, all having the same 
general features, and for some reason the large majority of 
them, in fact, all with a few exceptions, occurring in the 
north part of the state. Was it because the farmers in that 
part of the state had less experience in curing clover hay, and 
hence cured it too green, or was it because the low plant life 
which is the cause of the heating in clover hay and other for- 
age was more abundant in that section than in other parts 
of the West? 

Mr. J. W. Bopp, of Hawkeye, Iowa, who investigated 
nearly tifty cases of spontaneous combustion, reported that in 
all cases they occurred when the hay was in bays over twenty 
feet deep. In all, or at least nearly all the instances, tiie hay 
was put in damp, either from rain or dew, or with wet bunches 
interspersed, the result of attempting to cure a heavy crop 
without the use of the tedder. In most cases into which we 
have enquired, the hay was placed on timbers that furnished 
an opportunity for the moderately free access of air underneath. 
In one notable case at Marshalltown, Iowa, a stack put up 
when the hay was in bad condition, took fire and burned. 
Horses running in the field had eaten well into the sides, for 
some reason preferring this stack to other stacks in the same 
enclosure, that were put up in the best condition. In the 
Homestead^ of February 5, 1889, Mr. Luman Edwards, of 
Henry county, Illinois, reported two cases occurring in 1886, 
one at Cambridge, and the other at Kewanee, of that state. 
Since the public agitation of this subject, we 'have received 
numerous letters from farmers, notably from Englishmen, 
giving their experience both in America and in Europe, all 
corroborating the facts already stated. The only v/oncler is, 
that the theory of the scientists, that spontaneous combus- 
tion of clover hay was impossible, had not been utterly ex- 
ploded long ago. In the light of the facts above given it is 
utterly untenable. Since the numerous cases of spontaneous 
combustion in Iowa and elsewhere have occurred, the subject 
has been investigated by Prof Burrell, of the University of 
Illinois. His conclusions are as follows: 

"In the first place, it may be said that spontaneous combustion is 
certainly and definitely known to occur in some substances. One of the 
requisites in most cases for this is that substance sliall be in a state of 
minute subdivision, in order that a very great surface may be presented 
for oxygenation, and that the slowly accumulated heat shall not be car- 
ried away by conduction. Thus oils containing a large portion of hydro- 
gen, like common lubricating oil, have no tendency to ignite at ordinary 
temoeratures when kept in bulk, but when cotton waste is smeared with 



CLOVER CULTURE. 8^ 

the oil and thrown into a heap of some considerable size, fire is very 
liable to occur from the heat g-enerated within the pile. In this condition 
slow oxygenation of the oil takes place, favored by the comparatively 
enormous oil surfaces presented to the air included within the mass, 
while at the same time escape of heat is prevented by the non-conducting- 
quality of the substance. As the heat accumulates, chemical combina- 
tion takes place with still greater energy, the stored heat favoring the 
process, and the process constantly contributing to increase the degree 
of temperature. If now, the supply of air continues sufficient, as it will 
be when the mass is sufficiently porous, and the physical conditions are 
.such as to continuously retain the generated heat, the time will come 
when the temperature will be raised high enough to enkindle the mass. 
Should an abundant supply of fresh air suddenly reach this over-heated 
and inflammable material an outburst of flame may result. 

"Just the same result has been known to occur in many other sub- 
stances, as charcoal still having condensed within its pores the inflamma- 
ble gases separated in the process of manufacture, and reduced to a pul- 
verized state; bituminous coal containing sulphur, and stored in very 
large quantity. 

"Now what of moist vegetable substances? Commonly we should 
infer that moisture would prevent combustion. In order to burn, such 
things must be dry. Hay in a barn is no exception to this rule. In fact, 
if spontaneous combustion does occur in a haymow, you may be assured 
that the igniting portion is dry at the time. What takes place before 
combustion is possible? At best it is hard to make all conditions such 
that spontaneous combustion can occur. Hence one requisite is very in- 
flammable material. Green grass or partially dried grass cannot possibly 
ignite in this way. In truth such material has not the slightest tendency 
o become warm on its own account. Familiar as the phenon^enon is, 
green vegetation thrown into a heap does not spontaneously heat. If 
there were any way of keeping living organisms out of such a mass there 
would be no generation of heat whatever. Green stuif would keep cool 
just as certainly as the most thoroughly dried material. But under all 
ordinary conditions, minute living things are abundant on grass when 
ever cut and collected. They must have moisture to live. When, how- 
ever, moist nutrient material is present, they do possess the peculiar 
power of forming what we call fermentation. In this process heat is one 
of the results, the chemical changes being fairly equivalent to, though not 
identical with those of combustion. Under favorable conditions the degree 
of temperature due to these organisms may rise until it becomes injurious 
to their physiological functions, when it can rise no higher. If the mass 
still continues moist, no other means are known whereby this tempera- 
ture can be increased through any internal combinations or changes 
whatever. Spontaneous combustion is an impossibility. Hence, no silo- 
filled with material containing water enough to keep moist through the 
fermenting process can possibly burn. The upper limit of temperatu're 
for these micro-organisms is pretty definitely ascertained, viz. about 145 
degrees Fahr. is about the upper extreme if the bodies are immersed in 
water. The micro-organisms referred to, are minute plants, and though 
not killed by temperature fatal to grass and beans, are just as effectually 
prevented from development at a given degree of heat. Now 145 degrees 
Fahr. is scalding hot, but it lacks a long way of being sufficient to ignite 
such fairly combustible matter as dry hay. In other words, heat due to 
fermentation by living organisms is never sufficient to cause the ignition 
of vegetable matter, whether moist or thoroughly dry. 

" Let us see, however, what else occurs. As true fermentation pro- 
gresses, water is consumed as well as the nutrient material in which the 



gO CLOVER CULTURE. 

■destructive process occurs. Along- with the carbonic acid formed, there 
is separated a considerable amount of free hydrogen, the inflammable sub- 
stance of common illuminating- gas. If now, the water supply becomes 
exhausted, the micro-organisms die, or at least their activity ceases and 
fermentation stops. If there is any further rise in temperature it is not 
due to fermentation, but to the spontaneous oxygenation similar to that 
which occurs in cotton waste. Such oxygenation can only occur, as was 
before said, when the body is porous enough to admit the air, and rise of 
temperature can only take place when the generated heat is prevented 
from escaping. The greater the mass, the more favorable the condition 
for this last. The dryer this mass, the more inflammable it is, and the 
more pronounced becomes its non-conducting quality in regard to heat. 
It may be said by some that little moisture, as in the case of coal, favors 
spontaneous combustion; but this is only true when by some chemical 
action the hydrogen of the water is liberated, a process not likely to 
occur in heated herbage. 

From this it may be inferred: 

1st. That spontaneous combustion of stored vegetable matter nun- 
occur. 

2nd That this can take place only when a considerable number of 
conditions are favorable at one and the same time. 

3rd That just enough moisture to allow very active fermentation 
to proceed for a time and then become exhausted, is one of these con- 
ditions. 

4th. That great bulk and exposure to heating efEects of the son (as 
under an unventilated roof) with the above (3rd.) may be considered 
seriously dangerous. 

Sth. That contrary to this no such danger threatens silos as usually 
filled, however hot the material seems to become." 




CLOVERS IN THE ROTATION. 



CHAPTER IX. 



No permanent system of advanced . farming is possible 
without the adoption of some kind of rotation of crops. In 
the very nature of things the operations of the farm can not 
be conducted profitably by the growthof but one crop. There 
are, it is true, temporary conditions, as for example, when the 
country is new, land cheap and farm machinery at hand adapt- 
ed to large operations, under which, for the time being, farming 
can be conducted on the ranch or bonanza system, as for exam- 
ple, the growth of wheat at the present time in the Dakotas. 
These conditions last but for a brief period, as is evidenced 
by the constant removal of farming operations of this class to 
newer and cheaper lands of the farther west. Profitable 
farming, under ordinary conditions, requires the employment 
of labor, whether of the farmer himself or hired help, for the 
entire year, and hence sooner or later must come diversity 
of crops, and, later still, systematic rotation, t No instance 
has yet occurred in the history of agriculture where the land 
has been of such natural fertility that it could endure contin- 
uous cropping in anyone variety of grain. The constant de- 
mand made on the soil by one crop for potash, phosphoric 
acid or nitrogen, speedily exhausts it of one or all of these 
essential elements of fertility. No matter which is exhausted, 
the land, for the time being, becomes barren. Nature, < it is 
true, does not allow of complete exhaustion, but when the 
exhaustion of any one of these elements has gone so far as to 
prohibit the growth of paying- crops^ the land, so far as com- 
mercial purposes are concerned, is exhausted. The exhaus- 

(qi) 



■92 CLOVER CULTURE. 

tion of the nitrogen is nsually first, for the reason that this 
most costly element is more easily washed out of the soil by 
rains during that part of the summer season when it is not 
covered with some kind of growing crop. There are other 
reasons, in addition to the failure in the supply ot nitrogen, 
that prevents continuous cropping by the same plant. A nota- 
ble instance of this is the refusal of even the best corn lands in 
the West to grow profitable corn crops in succession for very 
many years. The corn - root worm ( Diabrotica Longi- 
xornis) i4i many portions ot the West begins its operations in 
a small way the Erst year. The damage is more noticeable 
the second and third years, and wherever this pest has made 
its appearance it usually reduces the crop below what should 
be regarded as a paying basis. 

Long continued growth of successive crops of winter 
wheat on the same land gives every opportunity for the in- 
crease of the Hessian fly, which lays its eggs in the volunteer 
crop that springs up aifter harvest. The smuts, rusts and 
other fungus diseases multiply rapidly when a large acreage 
of spring and winter wheat is sown in the same vicinity, and 
especially when sown repeatedly upon the same lands. It is 
only a question of time when Nature comes in with her im- 
perative command, "Rotate or cease to grow profitable 
crops. ' ' 

A rotation, to be profitable, mustembody several distinct 
features. It must comprise crops that mature in different 
seasons of the year in order that the labor of the farm may 
find profitable employment. This is imperative. It should 
consist of crops for which the ground can be prepared and the 
planting done at different periods of the year. It should con- 
sist of crops that draw as far as possible on different elements 
ot fertility in the soil, and if possible, of some crop which re- 
stores the elements of fertility which have been exhausted by 
other crops. It should embrace both grain crops and forage 
crops. And finaWy, it should consist of one or more cleaning 
oops; that is, crops that either smother out weeds or furnish 
ample opportun/ty for destroying them in the cultivation de- 
manded , for other reasons, by the crop. For the above reas- 
ons, rotations wherever adopted should cjntain as far as pos- 
sible grain crops, grass crops and hoed crops, by the latter 
being meant such crops as require tillage in some form during 
their period of growth, as for instance, corn and potatoes in 
America, and potatoes, turnips, mangels, beets, etc., in Eu- 
rope. As all ordinary rotations must necessarily contain 



CLOVER CULTURE. 93 

shallow rooting crops, such as wheat, oats and corn, tliey 
should also contain deep rooting crops, such as the clovers 
and what are known ordinarily as root crops. 

Having thus described the general features of desirable 
rotations, it remains to inquire how far the clovers meet the 
wants of the farmer who is selecting a profitable rotation for 
his own land, his own tastes and his own market. 

As a cleaning crop the clovers surpass all of the so-called 
hoed crops in America. While hoed or cultivated crops, such 
for example as corn, potatoes, mangels, beets, etc., afford 
abundant facilities for the destruction of weeds that germinate 
prior to July ist (cultivation being then for the most part sus- 
pended by the conditions of the crop as well as the necessities 
of the farmer) clover smothers out these as well as the weeds 
that germinate later, which are usually as destructive as those 
which germinate in the spring. A weed once sprouted and 
then smothered is as completely destroyed as when it is killed 
by the use of the plow or the cultivator. Farmers often find 
that corn lands that have been kept scrupulously clean until 
July ist, are foul with smart weed, hog weed, cocklebur and 
other no less noxious weeds, and that there is no method 
of destroying them after cultivation has ceased except by the 
generally impracticable method of hand weeding. The longer 
land is continuously in corn, the more foul under ordinary 
circumstances does it become, especially in the Western 
states. No matter how foul land has become, it is compara- 
tively clean after it has been in clover even for two years. As 
a deep-rooting crop the clovers have no equal, especially the 
red, mammoth and alfalfa. 

In supplying the nitrogen upon which all the grain crops 
draw to such an extent, the clovers are invaluable and the 
more so, because, as we have before stated, they alone of 
all the crops in general cultivation in America have the power 
of obtaining their supply of nitrogen from the atmosphere. 
It is true that beans, peas and other legumes have the same 
power, but their cultivation is too limited to enter largely 
into rotation crops. For the reasons above given, the clovers 
form an essential part of the rotation in every part of the 
world where advanced systems of agriculture have been es- 
tablished. 

The only objection to the clovers, where it is practicable* 
to grow them in America, is that the care of the first crop to 
some extent interferes with the cultivation of corn and the 
harvesting of the grains. It is one of the standing regrets of 



94 CLOVER CULTURE 

foreign writers on agrculture that clover can not be grown 
•either in Great Britain or on the Continent except as a part 
•of a long rotation, and hence short rotations have to be aban- 
doned. Fortunately as yet, it can be grown in any desired 
rotation in most parts of the United States. 

It is possible to form an indefinitenumber of rotations by 
the use of the red, mammoth and alsike clovers. The ten- 
dency in all countries is to begin with a short rotation and to 
extend rotations as agriculture becomes more diversified. 
Farmers usually begin in the new countries with the crop for 
which the land is best adapted and which brings the best cash 
price, and continue with that until compelled to alternate 
with some other crop. The bulk of new lands in the corn 
regions are plajited in corn year after year, and when corn be- 
gins to fail alternated with oats, spring wheat or barley. The 
•difficulty withany of these rotations is that they draw excess- 
ively on the stored fertility of the soil, and especially of the 
nitrogen, and the first move toward the adoption of a better 
rotation is the introduction of clover. The rotation then 
stands: 

I. Corn; 2. Oats, barley or spring wheat seeded in con- 
nection with clover. Where a good stand of clover is secured 
the crop can be turned under and again planted to corn with 
manifest advantage. This is the shortest rotation possible. 
A manifest improvement on this rotation is: 

I. Corn; 2. Oats, barley or spring wheat sown with 
clover; 3. Clover meadow and seed crop. 

This n>akes a 3-years' rotation and the meadow can be 
turned under and again planted in corn. This is perhaps the 
best rotation possible where the aim is to get the largest pos- 
sible amount of immediate cash crops Irom the land, and at 
the same time secure a large amount of hay for consumption 
on the farm. It involves plowing the ground but once in 
three years, oats and other spring grains being cultivated in 
without plowing. The seed crop, if the mammoth variety is 
used, is ordinarily a paying crop, and if the manure is return- 
>ed to the meadow after the seed is taken off, there is no reason 
why fertility should not be kept up for an almost indefinite 
period. 

Where the farmer is engaged more largely in livestock 
production, and especially where he has no permanent pasture 
in connection with his corn lands, the following is an improve- 
ment on the above rotation: 

I. Corn; 2. Oats, spring wheat or barley, sown to clover 



CLOVER CULTURE. 95 

and Imiothy; 3. Clover and timothy meadow; 4. Pasture. 

If the manure is carefully saved and returned to the pas- 
ture before plowing under for the next crop of corn, lands 
under this rotation should increase in fertility from year to 
year. 

In latitudes where spring wheat is a failure and barley 
unprofitable on account of climatic conditions, the following 
rotation may be used to great advantage: 

I. Corn; 2. Oats; 3. Winter wheat sown to timothy in 
the fall and clover the following spring; 4. Clover and timo- 
thy for meadow; 5. Pasture. 

This can readily be changed on strong lands to a six-crop 
rotation by taking two successive crops of corn. In this rota- 
tion the land is plowed but twice, once for corn and once for 
winter wheat, if the six-year course is not adopted. 

Some Missouri farmers have adopted the following ro- 
tation: 

I. Corn; 2. Oats sown with clover; 3. Clover meadow; 4. 
Wheat sown with timothy ; 5. Timothy meadow: 6. Pasture, 
upon which manure is applied. 

This rotation would be improved by sowing the wheat to 
clover as well as timothy. Here again we have but two plow- 
ings in the rotation, or one in three years. The clover mead- 
ow, it the conditions of the ground admit of early plowing, 
furnishes one of the best possible preparations for wheat, 
while the wheat furnishes the best opportunity for securing a 
stand of timothy, and the pasture following the timothy gives 
an excellent opportunity for the application of manure to be 
plowed under in the fall as a preparation for corn the first 
course in the succeeding period of the rotation. 

In sections west of the Missouri where the tame grasses 
can not be grown successfully with a nurse crop, we venture 
to suggest the following rotation: 

I. Corn; 2. Mammoth clover; 3. Wheat; 4. Mixed clo- 
vers and orchard grass; 5. Meadow; 6. Pasture; 7. Pasture. 

The objections to this rotation are that two years out of 
seven there is no money crop. The objection has much force, 
and yet we believe that the increased returns from the other 
five years will much more than make up for the apparent loss 
of the crops of the two years in which the grasses are being 
established. We suggest that the mammoth clover be sown 
on corn stalks as early in the spring as practicable. When a 
stand is obtained, the crop could be turned under in August 
in time to prepare the ground thoroughly for a wheat crop; 



96 CLOVER CULTURE. 

or, it could be pastured with advantage during the months of 
July and August. The land being in excellent heart the 
fourth year should furnish a fine crop of mixed clovers, and or- 
chard grass, which would during the fall months afford a large 
amount of pasture. We make the above suggestion merely 
as a matter worthy of trial, not oniy at the experiment stations, 
but in asmall way by the farmers themselves. Should the sov 
bean meet the expectations of those who are best acquainted 
with its value, it could be substituted for the mammoth clover. 
The soy beans could be removed in time for a wheat crop, 
leaving the land in excellent condition for seeding without 
plowing, and thus one year's loss of the use of the land be 
avoided. The reason for using orchard grass is that it suc- 
ceeds admirably, even on quite dry soils far west of the Mis- 
souri. It furnishes in connection with clover a very superior 
aftermath, but the cost of the seed is so great that it should 
not be plowed up for at least two or three years after sowing. 

Some Minnesota farmers have adopted with great advan- 
tage the following rotation: 

I. Corn; 2. Barley; 3. Spring wheat; 4. Oats sown with 
clover and timothy; 5. Clover and timothy meadow; 6. Pas- 
ture. 

This rotation has resulted in a very great increase of the 
fertility of the land for the time being, but lands must be 
very fertile indeed to endure four grain crops in succession 
without the use of clover. 

We have given these examples of rotation in use in dif- 
ferent parts of the West, not for the purpose of discussing the 
subject of rotations, but to show how essential clover is to 
any rotation that will secure large crops and at the same time 
conserve the fertility of the land. 

A rotation specially adapted for locations where winter 
wheat is a reliable crop, and where potatoes by reason of 
market facilities are profitable, is, 

I. Clover; 2. Potatoes; 3. Winter wheat. 

This in many respects is an admirable rotation. In fact 
it fulfills all the requirements of an ideal rotation. Clover 
turned under early in the fall, say in August or September, 
forms the very best preparation for a large and profitable crop 
of potatoes. The clover being in itself an admirable cleaning 
crop, the culture of potatoes is an easy matter. There are 
comparatively few weed seeds to germinate and give trouble, 
and these can be easily kept down in the cultivation of the 
potatoes. It besides furnishes in available form and in ijreat 



CIvOVER CULTURE. 97 

abundance the elements of fertility which the potato needs. 
The potatoes in turn can be removed from the ground in time 
for a crop of winter wheat, with or without plowing, prefera- 
bly without, as the potato ground furnishes the solid bottom 
for the seed bed, with loose, mellow soil on top. Wheat can 
be planted on this with a press drill as early as desirable, and 
speedy and vigorous germination will follow. Winter wheat, 
again, is one of the best nurse crops for clover. We do not 
see why the fertility under this rotation should not remain' 
almost constant, and, if top dressing of manure is applied with 
the clover, why it should not increase from year to year, the 
clover increasing the supply of nitrogenous compounds and 
the slow disintegration of the minute particles of rock, of 
which the soil so largely consists, keeping up the supply of 
potash and phosphoric acid. We advise farmers situated in 
the winter wheat regions where potatoes are a profitable crop 
to adopt it. 




CLOVER IN FEEDING RATIONS. 



CHAPTER X. 

No practical work on clover culture would be complete 
without a clear and definite statement of the use and value of 
the different varieties, both as pasture and forage, in the feed- 
ing ration needed for different kinds of stock under different 
conditions and circumstances. American farmers are but be- 
ginning to discuss this important matter, and the more expen- 
sive the various articles of stock feed become on account of the 
higher price of land and labor, the more important and indeed 
essential it will be to learn how to feed thjm to advantage, and 
with the least waste, whether of the clovers or other parts of 
the ration. The problem is usually regarded as too abstruse 
and difficult for the practical, every-day farmer. While there 
are many difficulties connected with this problem, and even 
those best informed on the subject have much to learn, the 
elementary principles are simple enough. It is obvious from 
a moment's reflection, that every part of the animal frame 
must be derived directly or indirectly from the plant. No 
animal can live on air alone, or upon the soil on which it 
treads. In the story of the creation we are told that the herb 
yielding seed and the tree yielding fruit were created before 
either man or animal was formed to consume them. This is 
simple enough. While the frame of the animal is mostly 
carbon and nitrogen, both elements of the air it breathes, 
there is no possible way in which they can become part of it 
except through the medium of plant food. The flesh and food- 
forming elements of the animal must first appear in the plant. 
The plant is the medium through which the materials exist- 
ing in earth and air become adapted to the life of the animal. 
The most costly element in all food, either of the animal or 
the plant, is in the form of nitrogenous compounds of different 
kinds, which we group under the one term, nitrogen. Some 
writers call it protein, some albuminoids, but all three meau 
practically the same thing, the flesh-forming elements of the 
food. The atmosphere which the animal breathes is foui- 



CLOVER CULTURE. 99 

fifths nitrogen, which is the base of all these compounds, and 
yet the animal inevitably starves to death unless it has a sup- 
ply of these compounds of nitrogen through the plant, or iu 
case of carnivorous animals, through the flesh of other animals, 
or insects which has in turn been derived from the plant. 
The same remarks apply to the carbonaceous, that is, the 
elements that are consumed to maintain the animal heat, and 
that are stored away in the system as fat, and also to the min- 
eral elements which make up bone. Of whatever the animal 
frame may consist, whether bone, flesh or fat, it must have 
been fed into it either in the plant or the milk of its dam or 
the flesh of other animals, and therefore must come through 
its food. While carbonaceous substances compose by far the 
largest part of animal food and animal forms, it has been very 
clearly demonstrated that the animal fed on purely carbon- 
aceous food, such as sugar or starch, will speedily starve, no 
matter how abundant the food; and it has been as clearly 
proved that foods having an excess of nitrogen when fed to 
herbivorous animals will sooner or later produce disease and 
death. It seems that when carbonaceous elements are lacking 
the system can use nitrogenous compounds for keeping up the 
animal heat, just as for lack of coal we may burn wood in the 
stove. But the carbonaceous elements can not be used for the 
purpose of building up either the muscular system, or the 
skeleton, commonly called by scientists, the osseous or bony 
system. It is therefore evident that much of the success in 
stock feeding depends upon supplying these elements as nearlv 
as possible in their proper proportion, feeding nitrogenous 
food in the proportion in which it is required for growth and 
repair of waste, carbonaceous foods in the proportion in which 
they are needed for keeping up the animal heat and finishing 
the animal for the shambles, and furnishing mineral elements 
in the proportion needed for the growth of the osseous system. 
In compounding feeding rations, as in every thing else, 
Nature is the best teacher. She emphasizes in the most em- 
phatic way the necessity of a balanced ration. She provides 
in the milk for the young of each race, a ration composed of 
the materials in the due proportion that each needs, and man 
soon finds out that if he interferes and takes away the carbo- 
hydrates or the albuminoids, as for example the fat, from the 
milk in the shape of cream, or the albuminoids in the shape 
of cheese, the young fail to reach their proper development, 
pine away or perhaps die. The skim-milk calf, for example, 
unless the balance is kept iii'» bv means of cheaper fats, is 



100 CLOVER CULiTURU,. 

always a sorry looking object. The whey calf fares still worse, 
because the subject of a greater robbery, but neither of them 
fares very much worse than the calf, the milk of whose dam 
is too rich in lats. Nature insists on a balanced ration, and 
can not be prevented from taking her revenge on those who 
violate her laws. When either albuminoids or carbo-hydrates, 
•or in other words, nitrogenous or carbonaceous compounds are 
fed in excess of the wants of the animal, the surplus is wasted. 
It is worse than wasted, for digestion has meanwhile gone on, 
and the system having no use for the digested matter beyond 
its capacity to assimilate, can do nothing else than void it. 
This is a waste, not merely of the animal food, but of the 
animal forces. For example, the animal at a certain stage of 
its existence demands a ration composed ofi of albuminoids to 
"6 of carbo-hydrates, which we express as follows: i:6, and if 
fed corn exclusively, having, let us suppose, a ratio of 1:9, or 
I of albuminoids to 9 of carbo-hydrates; then one-third of the 
carbo-hydrates is clearly wasted. If, however, to this corn 
ration be added bran or oil meal in quantities sufficient to 
make a ratio of 1:6, then is the corn fully utilized as is also 
the added food. 

The western states have a great excess of carbo-hydrates, 
an excess rendered all the greater by the continuous shipment 
abroad of wheat and oil meal and livestock, and rendered all 
the greater locally by the shipment of livestock to the great 
•cities and wheat to the great milling centers. It therefore 
stands in need of a fodder rich in albuminoids to balance up 
the too carbonaceous corn stalks and straw that are left for 
feed on the farm. It also needs a ration havrug albuminoids 
in excess for finishing stock for the feed lot in order to avoid 
the expense of providing albuminoids in the form of bran and 
oil meal. To meet the first want the clovers furnish an am- 
ple supply if properly handled. The second want which is 
supplied in other countries by peas, beans and turnips, will 
doubtless be met in time, by some legume adapted to the cli- 
mate and soil, possibly the soy bean. Great as is the value 
of the clovers in supplying nitrogen to the soil, they are 
scarcely less valuable as a source of albuminoids with which 
to balance up our excessively carbonaceous foods. In order 
that the reader may see the value of the clovers for this pur- 
pose, we give the following tables, showing the amount of 
•dry organic matter and also of digestible albuminoids, carbo- 
hydrates and fat that are required by different animals and oi 
the same animal in different stages of its growth, and when 
fed for different purposes: 



CLOVER CULTURE. 



101 



TABLE I.— Pounds Peu Dai 


i' RKQUIR^ 


:d for 1000 1 


^OUNDS 


Live Weight. 




O <9 


Digestible constituents 


a a 

- a 


eb 




"a 


CO 


>> 

-SS 




® . 

> o 

*3 +3 






3 


o . 


X> 03 , 

»H '-' <» 


-»3 ca 




a 




o a-° 


^■^ 


^ Xi 


S'^'O 


e3.0 


O^Xi 






H S J 


< 


J 


o ^ 


fmJ 


H*"Hq 


;z; 


Oxen at rest in stall 


17.5 
24.5 




0.7 
l.G 


8.0 
11.3 


0.15 
0.30 


8.85 
13.20 


1:12.0 


Oxen at mQdium work 


1:7.5 


Oxen at hard work 


26.0 
20.0 




2.4 
1.5 


13.2 
9 5 


0.50 
0.40 


16.10 
11.40 


1:6.0 


Horses at light work 


1:7.0 


Horses at medium work 


21.0 




1.7 


10.7 


0.60 


13.00 


1:7.0 


Horses at hard work 


24.0 




2.4 


12.5 


'' 0.80 


15.70 


1:6.0 


Milch cows 


24.0 
27.0 




2.5 
3.5 


12 5 
15.0 


0.40 
0.50 


15.40 
18,00 


1:5.4 


Fattening steers, 1st period. . 


1:6. r> 


Fattening steers, 2d period . . 


26.0 




3.0 


14.8 


70 


18. .50 


1:5.5 


Fattening steers, 3d period . . 


25.0 




2.7 


14.8 


0.60 


18.10 


1:6.0 


Sheep, wool producing.coarse 


20.0 




1.2 


10.3 


20 


11.70 


1:9.0 


Sheep, wool producing, fine. . 


22.5 




1.5 


11.4 


0.25 


13.15 


1:8.0 


Fattening sheep, Ist period. . 


26.0 




3.0 


15.3 


0.50 


18.70 


1:5.5 


Fattening sheep, 2d period. . 


25.0 




3.5 


14.4' 0.60 


18.50 


1:4.5 


Fattening swine, 1st period. . 


36.0 




5.0 


27.5 


32.50 


1:5.5 


Fattening swine, 2d period.. 


31.0 




4.0 


24.0 


28.00 


1:6.0 


Fattening swine, 3d period. . 


2J.5 




2.7 


17.5 


20.20 


1:6.5 



TABLE II. — Pounds Per Day Per Head. 








O o 

■Sa 


Diges4ible constituents 


1- 

— a 
ea " 


> c 

3 

?5 




a « 


.O cS . 

h »H Oi 

O 1-^ 


4J 09 

^X> 


GROWING CATTLE. 














Age — mos. Average weight. 
2 to 3 150 !bs. 


3.3 


0.6 


2.1 


30 


3.00 


1:4.7 


3 " 6 300 " 


7.0 


1.0 


4.1 


0.30 


5.40 


1:5.0 


6 " 12 .500 " 


12.0 


1.3 


6.8 


0.30 


8.40 


l:fw0 


12 " 18 700 " 


16.8 


1.4 


9.1 


0.28 


10.78 


1:7.0 


18 " 24 850 " 


20.4 


1 4 


10.3 


0.26 


11.96 


1:8.0 


GROWING SHEEP. 














5 to 6 56 tbs. 


1.6 


0.18 


0.87 


0.045 


1.095 


1:5.5 


6 " 8 68 " 


1.7 


0.17 


0.83 


0.040 


1.060 


1:5.5 


8 " 11 76 " 


1.7 


0.16 


0.85 


0.037 


1.047 


1:6.0 


11 " 15 82 " 


1.8 


0.14 


0.89 


0.032 


1 06i 


1:7.0 


15 " 20 86 " 


1.9 
2.1 


0.12 
0.38 


0.88 


0.025 


1.025 
1.88 


1:8.0 


2 to 3 50 tbs. 


1.50 


1:4.0 


3 " 5 100 " 


3.4 


50 


2.50 


3.00 


1:5.0 


5 " 6 125 " 


39 


0..54 


2.96 


3.. 50 


1:5.5 


6 " 8 170 " 


4.6 


0.58 


3.47 


4.05 


1:6.0 


8 " 12 2.50 " 


5.2 


0.6'i 


4.05 


4.67 


1:6.5 



These are German tables and the weights do not in all oases corre- 



102 



CLOVER CULTURE. 



spond with tliose custom "ry f >r >iock of like ages in this country, but 
this does not affect the principle the tables are here adduced to illustrate. 

To show how inefficient onr non-leguminous grains and 
crrasses are to meet the requirements of the above tables, we 
give the digestible nutrients shown by the analyses of the 
non-leguminous grains and fodders that are grown in the 
West, and that form the staple of the food of our livestock: 



Corn 

Oats 

Barley 

Rye 

Timothy hay 

Red top 

Orchard grass 

Blue grass 

Hungarian grass 

Barley hay (seed in milk) 

Oat hay (seed in milk) 

Corn stover 

Sowed corn fodder, very good, 

field cured 

Oat straw 

Rye straw - . 

Wheat straw 

Corn fodder, green 

Sorghum, green 

Rye fodder, green 



Albumi- 
noids. 
Per cent. 



8 3« 
8.4G 

9 G4 
8 37 
3 (57 
4.13 
4.06 
().42 
3.87 
5.24 
.5 07 
2.41 

3.00 
1 44 
1.14 
1.29 
1.19 
0.80 
1.77 



Cai bohy- 

drates. 

Per cent. 



04.81 
40.11 
00 77 
63.10 
41.25 
44.70 
43.07 
41.96 
49.68 
44 82 
43.89 
34.48 



Fat. * 
Per cent. 



4.74 
3.94 
1.86 
1.09 
1.03 
0.94 
1.08 
1.17 
1.22 
1.18 
1.31 
0.47 



40.00 


0.93 


42.62 


0.00 


37.. 55 


0.59 


37.70 


0.40 


10.87 


0.31 


12.26 


0.28 


13 38 


0.39 



Nutritive 
Ratio. 



1: 9.3 
1: 6.5 
1: ft.7 
1: 7.8 
l:ia.7 
1:11.3 
1:10.4 
1: 7.1 
1:13.5 
1: 9.0 
1: 9.2 
1:14.7 

1:14.0 
1:30.0 
1:34.0 
1:29.0 
1: 9.9 
1:10.0 
1: 8.0 



In order that the reader may be able to compare the 
nutritive elements in the non-leguminous gfains and forage 
with the elements contained in the legumes, and thus form 
an adequate idea of the difference in the proportion or ratio 
that exists between the albuminoids and carbo-hydrates of the 
two classes, respectively, the following table showing the 
digestible contents of clovers and other leguminous plants, is 
appended: 



Albumi- 
noids. 
Per cent. 



Carbohy- 
drates. 
Per cent. 



Fat. 
Pel* cent. 



Nutritive 
Ratio. 



Red clover, full bloom 

White clover, in blossom. . . . 

Alfalfa, in bloom 

Beans, ripe 

Peas, green, dried substance 
Soy beans 



11.72 
11.27 
11.05 
22.58 
14.13 
31.14 



40.17 
40.50 
41.05 
.57.70 
05.98 
27.48 



2.75 
2.56 
1.02 

1.87 

1.51 

15.. 59 



1:3.9 
1:4.2 
1:3.7 

1:2.7 
1:4.9 
1:2.0 



CIvOVER CULTURE. 103 

It will be readily seen that with certain ends to accom- 
plish, as for example, the growth of the pig from fifty pounds 
weight to a hundred, where a ratio of from 1 4 to 1 15 is re- 
quired, and with no feed on hand except corn with a ratio of 
1:9.3 (s^^ tabte 3.) and a deficiency in bone material, besides, 
there can be but one result: the frame becomes deficient in 
bone material and the pig fine in bone, chufFyand small; and 
no amount of corn fed, even with its attendant waste, can 
properly develop its form. It becomes, under excessive corn 
feeding a globe of fat, fit subject for every disease and a source 
of continual disappointment to its unwise owner. 

If a horse is to be kept for hard work, involving great 
waste of inuscular tissue, and it is fed solely on corn, which is 
■deficient in material adapted to supply the waste, it is clear 
that it must be fed much more corn than under other circum- 
stances would be necessary. Hence, the preference for oats 
as feed for work horses, and of corn as a food for fattening 
mature cattle or hogs. In the last case, the waste of muscular 
tissue is slight, while the end in view is the storing away ol 
surplus fat in the system. For this nothing is better than corn. 

The term "pigs in the clover" has become a synonym for 
abundance, while feeding an exclusive corn diet without clo- 
ver to growing pigs is everywhere condemned by good farm- 
ers as unprofitable, and hence in their experience is a waste 
of corn. How to avoid this and like^ wastes by the use of 
■clover is the problem now under consideration. 

In the early stages of their growth, all grasses have a 
large amount of nitrogenous compounds. The dry matter, 
for example, of clover cut when from three to four inches 
high, approximates the nutritive value of oil meal, hence a pas- 
ture of mixed grasses in May and the early part of June forms 
an almost ideal ration. As these grasses mature, the propor- 
tion of carbonaceous compounds or carbohydrates increases rel- 
atively. Clover alone contains a sufficiently large proportion 
of nitrogen to make it valuable in balancing up rations. We 
now inquire how this clover can be used to balance up the car- 
bonaceous foods, and that, too, by any tarmer who has even 
a general idea of the different elements in the supply of food 
at his command. '' 

Nearly every farmer in the West has a field of cornstalks 
which he wishes to use to the best advantage. Many farmers 
are not prepared to build silos and many others have not the 
labor at their command at a price which they believe justifies 
them in cutting up the corn and using it as fodder. It re- 



104 CLoVER CULTURE. 

quires labor to handle the grain and fodder after husking and 
to return the stalks to the field in the shape of manure. In the 
jfreater part of the United States this will pay. There are 
jjortions, however, where the cornfields are very large and the 
supply of stock limited where as yet this method of saving 
fodder is not believed to be profitable, and the question before 
us now is, how these stalks can be used to the best advantage. 
Corn stalks in their best estate, before bleached by rain, and 
the leaves in which, with the husks, most of the nitrogenous 
compounds are found, have a ratio of 1:14.7, a very wide ratio 
it will be seen, which becomes wider, that is, the proportion 
of carbohydrates to albuminoids becomes greater, everyday 
after it is exposed to the weather. It is entirely practicable 
for most farmers to have in the same field a clover meadow, and 
to allow the second crop or aftermath to remain untouched 
until after the corn is husked and the cattle are turned into the 
corn field. This clover aftermath or second crop has, before 
being damaged by winter's rain or frost,a ratio of 1:2.3. This 
ratio becomes wider during the winter season, but it does not 
widen as rapidly as that of the corn stalks. 

It is now plain to be seen that by using this second crop 
for pasturage in connection with corn stalks, a very great 
saving may be made for stock cattle or milk cows or horses,, 
by allowing them to consume both together, the excess ot 
albuminoids in the plover balancing the excess of carbohy- 
drates in the corn stalks, and together making a fairly good 
winter pasture. No argument is needed by any farmer who 
has once tried this method. Nor is it alone in the balancing 
up of the ration that the benefit consists. There is very little 
danger of compaction of the stomach where cattle have free 
access to this clover aftermath, nor is there any danger from 
bloating from the clover. 

Every farmer who is extensively engaged in growing 
wheat, oats or barley has, at his command, a large amount of 
straw which is either burnt (a wasteful habit which can not 
be too strongly condemned) or stacked and allowed to rot on 
the fields, or perhaps used for bedding. This has a ratio of 
1:29 in case of wheat straw; 1:30 in case of oats; 1:34 in case 
of rye, with a probable average ratio of i :32. The stock re- 
quire a ratio of say i :8. It will be seen that if the animal is 
to increase in size and weight or even repair the waste of 
muscular tissue, it must consume a very large amount of the 
straw to get sufficient for the purpose. This straw has to be 
wet with a large amount of water, the water has to be brought 



CLOVER CULTURE. lOi 

up to blood heat and then the greater portion of the carbohy- 
drates is wasted. Thisexplains why cattle fed onfoodsof this 
kind exclusively wear themselves out in the winter by trying 
to digest a great deal more than the system can assimilate. 
This waste may to a great extent be avoided by stacking the 
straw in a clover field where the aftermath has been allowed to 
stand, and allowing cattle free access to both. Where this is 
not practicable, the waste can be avoided by feeding clovei 
and straw alternately, or by cutting and mixing both and 
making a complete ration by the use of bran or oil meal. 

For example, clover hay has a ratio of 1:5.6. (We are 
speaking now of clover hay in its best condition cut when the 
heads are not more than one-th#rd brown and properly cured. 
The feeder usually knows how far his hay varies from this 
standard whether by late cutting or defective curing. It 
should be noticed in either case that the departure from the 
standard will be in the loss of the albuminoid or protein ele- 
ments and therefore the less efficiently will it balance up a 
corn ration.) The farmer has steers on feed, and wishes to 
get the best results from his corn. This has a ratio of 1:9.3, 
and should be brought down to a ratio of 1:5.5 or 1:6.5. He 
can do this by feeding oil meal, shorts or bran, but he can 
narrow this broad ration of corn to some extent by feeding 
clover hay for roughness. How far he can narrow the ration 
will depend on how much clover hay he can induce his cattle 
to eat in the uncut state, and this no one can determine but 
himself. 

When labor becomes cheaper in the West and land audits 
products dearer, there will be a much greater opportunity than 
now to use clover in the feeding ration. Clover hay will then 
be largely cut and mixed with ground food and there is 
scarcely any limit to the methods in which it can be used in 
this way. It will enter largely into the ration for dairy cows 
in connection with other forage and the various cereals. Al- 
though it is impossible to make an ideal milk ration by add- 
ing clover hay to the corn and corn fodder upon which so 
many cows are now fed, yet every pound of clover that is add- 
ed to these foods improves the ration. The ideal balance for 
milk should be one pound of albuminoids to each five and 
four-tenths pounds of carbohydrates. Good clover hay as 
usually cut has a ratio of i:5.6,and is of itself substantially in 
the right proportion, but the corn is 1:9.3 and the corn stalks 
1:14.7. ^f ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ were fed in equal weights the ratio 
would be 1:13; if the three feed stuffs were fed in equal 



106 CLOVER CULTURE. 

weights the ratio would be 1:9.8, which, although still far from 
the ideal requirements, is much more nearly right than the 
corn and fodder without the clover. Substitute bran for hall 
the corn and the ratio would be still further narrowed to i :8. 5, 
or substitute oil meal for half the corn and the ratio of the 
mass would be narrowed to 1:7.5. 

Timothy hay has a wide ratio of i:i2.7,and every farmer 
knows how the addition of clover improves it. The reason is 
that the ratio, that i.s, the proportion between the albumi- 
noids and the carbohydrates, is narrowed. Equal weights of 
timothy and clover hay cut as described will ha-ye a ratio of 
1:9.15. If to such mixed hay corn is added the ratio will not 
be much disturbed. If an equal weight of corn and bran in 
equal parts be added the ratio of the whole ration will be i :8, 
and if the grains fed be half corn and half oil meal the ratio 
of the whole will be 1:7. i. If the mixed hay be added to an 
equal weight of oats the ratio of the mass will be i :7. 8, where- 
as timothy and oats alone in equal parts would have a ratio 
I :g.6. These examples are given merely to illustrate the man- 
ner in which clover hay may advantageously narrow the ratio 
of other feed stuffs. Corn ensilage may in like manner be 
narrowed with clover. Alone it has a ratio of about i:ii, but 
if an equal weight of clover hay be added the ratio of tha 
whole will be narrowed to i :8.3. A careful study of the tables 
on pages loi and 102 will suggestother combinations of clover 
hay suitable to the live stock of the farm. 

Where alfalfa hay is grown the hay can be used even to 
better purpose than clover, for it is customary to cut it at an 
earlier stage of growth, when if well cured its • ratio is about 
1:2.8. It is the more valuable because in the district m which 
alfalfa is grown there is a very great supply of carbonaceous 
foods which require, for use for the highest profit, to be bal- 
anced up with a more albuminous food. Some horse breeders 
in the Eastern states have become so impressed with the value 
of alfalfa as a producer of muscle that they sendyearlingcolts 
to the alfalfa districts of Kansas in order that they may be 
grown largely on alfalfa pasture and alfalfa hay. This may 
seem a mere conceit, but it is not impossible that they may 
have more facts to sustain them than is apparent at first sight. 
It is in entire harmony with feeding principles. While many 
farmers see at a glance the value of the various clovers in the 
ration the number will greatly increase as land and its pro- 
ducts increase in value and the science and practice of com- 
pounding balanced rations which is yet in its infancy becomes 
more completely u::derstood. 



INSECT AND OTHER ENEMIES. 



CHAPTER XI. 



It is a peculiarity of all cultivated crops that when grown 
abundantly over a wide district of country, they become 
infested with many diseases and are attacked by a largfe num- 
ber of insect and other enemies. The more useful the plant, 
the greater the variety and number of its foes. It may there- 
fore be reasonably expected that whenever the culture of 
clover becomes established in any state or section and is in 
such high favor with farmers that a large acreage is in culti- 
vation, insect enemies will appear, increase and multiply. 

Prof. J. A. Lintner, in the Report of the New York Agri- 
cultural Society 1S81-2, page 190, gives a list of no less than 
seventy-one species of insects in Europe which infest the 
clover plant. In the same volume, pages 192 and 206, he 
gives the names of some sixty species that have been known to 
attack clover in America, and some eight or ten other species 
have since been discovered by other entomologists. A recent 
bulletin of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station gives 
the names of eighty-two that have been discovered up to 1885. 
It will thus be seen that the clovers have as many enemies as 
a saint. Many of these species are not peculiar enemies of 
clover, as, for instance, the grasshoppers and various butter- 
flies, and, hence, will not be discussed here, while others do 
comparatively little damage. We confine our attention main- 
ly to those peculiar to the clover, which have infested the 
clover fields in some parts of the country, and may in all. 

C)ne of the minor pests is the clover leaf midge, (an illus- 
tration of which is presented on the following page) 
which deposits its eggs in the folded leaf of the white clover 

(107) 



108 



CnOVER CULTURE. 




THE CLOTEB LKAT HIDQB. 



and has, in some instances, been found on the red, thoug-h not 
yet, we believe, on the alsike. It is described by Prof. Riley 
in the Report of the Department of Agriculture, 1879, pag-e 
197. Where it has beg-un its operations, the egfg-s will be 
found on the leaves, on the dividing- line in each leaf, and their 
presence may be suspected when the leaves are folded up. 
On unfolding- these leaves, from one to twenty whitish, pale 
orang-e mag-gots may be found, similar to, but smaller, than 

those of the clover- 
seed midg-e, which will 
be described in Chapter 
XII. It was first de- 
scribed by the German 
entomolog-ist, Dr. Leow. 
The leng-th of this 
midg-e is about .059 of 
an inch. When ma- 
tured it forms a white, 
delicate cocoon, in the 
folded leaflet, inside of 
which may be found the pupa, pale orang-e in color. The 
perfect fly is very similar to that of the clover seed midg-e, the 
main difference being- that the antennae, or feelers, of the leaf 
midg-e have fourteen instead of sixteen joints. It is not 
likely that this will ever become a serious pest, inasmuch as 
dhe exposed condition of the eg-g-s leaves them open to many 
enemies, and renders them especially liable to be infested by 
parasites. When working- on the red clover it will be found 
in the form of a g-all on the undermost leaves. 

A much more serious pest is the clover root borer, {Hylesi- 
nustiifolh), Mueller. This was first noticed in New York in 
1878, and described by Prof. Riley at some leng-th in the report 
of the Commissioner of Ag-riculture for that year. As 
the name implies, it belongs to an entirely different family, and 
is closely related to the common bark beetle, which is often 
found under the bark of both evergreen and deciduous trees, 
deciduous trees being those that shed their leaves in the fall. 
The illustration on the following page will enable our 
readers to identify the beetle in three of its stages. In the 
illustration a represents the affected plant with the maggot 
feeding in the root, b the maggot highly magnified, c the 
pupa, and d the full-grown beetle. The eggs are whitish 
and oval, the larvae white with oval head and the beetle black 
and about .08 of an inch in length. The female appears in 
the spring, bores a hole in the crown of the root, eating out a 
pretty large cavity, in which she deposits the eggs. These 



CLOVER CULTURE. 



109 



are hatched in about a week, and the mag-g-ots first feed in the 
■cavity made by the parent for their accommodation. When 
somewhat grown, they begin to burrow downward, following- 
out the different branches of the root. The pupa is formed 
in a smooth cavity, generally at the end of one of these burrows, 
and may be found there in the fall. This, of course, greatly 
weakens the plant, and it is not able to produce a seed crop ; 
hence, where farmers find clover after the first cutting in the 
fall not producing seed heads, they may suspect the presence 

of the clover root borer. A very 
slight investigation will discover the 
presence of the pest. The stalks 
pull up easily and sometimes push 
before the mower. Thus, the borer, 
as will be seen from the above de- 
scription of its habits, affects only 
the second year's crop, as the first 
year's crop is not sufficiently ad- 
vanced to allow the female to deposit 
her eggs, there being no crown or 
sufficient root development for the 
support of the young. The only 
known method of avoiding the rav- 
ages of this pest is to plow up the 
field and plant it to corn, a remedy 
not applicable, however, in fields 
where clover is growing as part of 
the permanent pasture. From its 
habits the clover root borer cannot be 
distributed as rapidly as the clover 
seed midge. It prevails, however,over 
a large part of the country, having 
been abundant as far west as some counties in northern Iowa, 
for some years. Fortunately, the farmer does not suffer any 
serious loss by being compelled to plow up his clover field at 
the end of the second year, the main loss being the deficient 
yield of the affected plant and the failure of a seed crop. In 
many places where it has appeared, this singular fact has been 
noted, that while they may ruin whole fields one season, the 
borers may be quite rare the next. This would indicate 
either that it has some parasite enemies, or that they are 
destroyed in great numbers while hibernating in the ground 
in the winter, or that the old plants have b'een destroyed 
and sufficient young ones have come forward from self- 
seeding to maintain the stand. 

Another insect that affects clover injuriously is the flaves- 




THE CLOVER ROOT BORER. 



110 CLOVER CULTURE. 

cent clover weevil, {SitonesJlaz'escens)A\\?ixCi. In the month 
of October, 1885, Mr. F. M. Webster, then of Lafayette, 
Indiana, special agent of the Department of Ag-riculture. dis- 
covered that the foliag-e of white clover, and also of the alsike 
on the grounds of the Purdue University, at Lafayette, Indi- 
ana, were seriously injured by an insect enemy, and he de- 
scribed and reported the insect to the Department, the de- 
scription being published in the annual report of 1886, pp. 
580-2. The injury was done mainly to the leaves of the clo- 
ver, and consisted in cutting a circular disc in the center of the 
leaf, and also circular spaces from the margins, in some cases 
leaving onl}' the leaf stalk and the backbond of the leaf, or 
the bases of the mid-veins. This he identified as the fiaves- 
cent clover weevil, {Sitoiies Jlavcscens.) The insect had been 
previously described by Dr. Lintner, of New York, and alsa 
by Dr. Riley, of the Department of Agriculture. It is one of 
the beetles, and has a wide distribution, being quite frequent 
in the Atlantic states, and in Indiana, Illinois and Minnesota. 
The beetles are described as rather timid, and drop to the 
ground on the slightest disturbance, hiding among the leaves 
and rubbish, and, therefore, it is difficult to discover them in 
the act of feeding on the leaves. The peculiar circular marks 
which they make are due to the habit of the insect when feed- 
ing, of moving simply the head and neck, the body remaining 
stationary, much after the fashion of a cow with her head be- 
tween a barb wire fence and reaching as far as her tongue 
will enable her to take in the herbage. 

These beetles appear in the spring of the year, about the 
time the first tender leaves make their appearance, and carry 
on their depredations throughout the summer. 'The eggs are 
deposited in July and August, and the deposit continues until 
cold weather beg'ins. The larvae hatch out about two days 
after the eggs are laid, and pass the winter in the larval 
stage, pupating or undergoing their final transformation in 
the spring, and after remaining about twenty days in this 
stage, emerge as adults, thus completing the cycle. This 
pest was discovered in 1891, as being quite abundant at Ames, 
Iowa, and a full account of it may be found in Bulletin 14, 
for August of that year. While as noticed in Indiana and 
further east, they infest mainly the alsike and white clovers, 
they seem to be partial to red clover in Iowa. It is not prob- 
able that this insect will do very serious damage, and it is 
likely common, its ravages being mistaken for those of grass- 
hoppers. Prof. Osborn describes it as little less than one- 
fourth of an inch in length, about one-tenth of an inch wide, 
and with a faint light brown stripe running the length of the 



CLOVER CULTURE. 



Ixi 




THB CLOVER STEM BOREB. 



head between the eyes, and dimly discernablc on the wing 
covers. 

Clover Stem Borer, {Lauguria Mozajdi,) Fabr. In his re- 
port to the Department of Ag-riculture for 1879, Prof. J. Henry 
Comstock, entomolog-ist of the Department, describes a new 
clover pest then recently discovered, called the Clover Stem 
Borer. The accompanying- illustration will enable the reader 
to identify the eggs, larva?, pupa, the adult borer and also the 
manner in which the eggs 
are laid in the stalk. It 
seems to be identical with 
an insect affecting the 
fall wheat in Kansas and 
perhaps other sections, 
and hence is not peculiar 
to clover. The female 
lays her eggs in June, ac- 
cording to Prof. Cook, 
piercing the stem with 
her jaws and pushing her 
eggs clear into the pith. 
The larvae feed on the pith downward, forming a 
burrow about six inches long. The pupa is formed 
at the bottom of this burrow and shortly after- 
wards the full}^ developed beetles begin to appear, 
emerging from the hollow stems from August to 
October. There is but one brood each year. The beetle 
hibernates and waits until the plants are in their full vigor in 
June before depositing her eggs. It will readily be seen that 
the Western method of cutting clover the last of June or the 
first of July, and then either pasturing or cutting the second 
crop for seed will give small chance for this pest to increase. 
Recent discoveries, however, have shown that a stock of the 
borers may be kept up indefinitely, from the fact that it lives 
on quite a number of plants besides clover. It has been 
found in the sweet clover,. in wild thistles, wild lettuce, yarrow 
and in timothy. It has, however, several parasites, and there 
is but little danger of it ever becoming a destructive pest. 

Clover Leaf Beetle, {Phytouumus pun iatus). This, like 
many of our destructive insect:,, is stated by Prof. Cook to 
be an imported species, common in Germany, prevailing in 
Canada since 1853, appearing in New York in 1881, and later, 
in 1884, at Buffalo, N. Y. It appeared in northeastern 
Ohio in 1891, and recently near Cincinnati, Ohio. The 
following illustration will gi'/e our readers an idea of 
the beetle at its work, in which a represents the ^^% en- 



112 



CLOVER CULTURE. 



larg-ed ; b, b, b, b, represent the different stages of their 
growth feeding ; e, the young larvce ; d, the head from 
beneath ; e, the jaw enlarged ; f, the cocoon reduced in size 
and meshes of the same ; g and //, the pupae ; i, the beetle, 
also reduced ; j\ side view of the beetle, and k^ a dorsal 
view of the same, slightly reduced from the natural size ; 
/ and m, foot and antennae enlarged. For the illustra- 
tion the public is indebted to Dr. Riley. From a descrip- 




THE CLOVER LEAP BEETLE. 



tion by Dr. Lintner, State Entomologist of New York, we 
condense as follows : It measures four-tenths of an inch 
in length, is oval in form, brown in color; the beak is 
short, broad and blunt. The wing covers are clothed with 
short, yellowish brown hairs, the e^gg is a long oval and 
about twice as long as wide, pale yellow, smooth when first 
laid, but becoming greenish yellow before hatching. The 
larvae hatch out in about a week from the time the Q.gg is 
laid. They are pale in color, with a dark head, which 
subsequently becomes greenish. The body is deeply 
wrinkled, and when it rests clings sidewise to the leaf in a 
curved position. The eggs are deposited in the latter part 
of the summer by beetles which appear in July and August. 



CLOVER CULTURE. 113 

The larvae appear in September, change to pupae in October, 
and emerg-e as beetles in November. Some of them lay 
their eggs from which the larvse hatch and hibernate while 
quite small within the old clover stems. Others hibernate 
as beetles and lay their eggs the following spring. The 
young larvae are seen as early as April, feeding on the 
clover, but their ravages do not become marked until May 
or June. They feed first on the folded yoiing leaves, and 
attach themselves to the under side of the leaf, while later 
they fasten themselves to its edge, which they eat in irregu- 
lar patches. It is difficult to observe the older larvae, as 
they are quite timid and drop to the ground when approached, 
feeding mainly at night and passing the day among the roots 
and old stalks, or any other shelter found upon the ground. 
About the first week in July the beetle emerges. The sev- 
eral periods of the insect are given by Dr. Lintner as follows r 
"The egg stage, ten and a half days ; first larval stage, nine 
days ; fourth larval stage from the third molting to the spin-^ 
ning of the cocoon, twenty-five days ; larvae unchanged in the 
cocoon, nine days ; pupa state, thirty days. The entire time 
from the egg to the perfect insect is one hundred and one 
days, or about three and one-third months." This beetle is 
very prolific. The female lays from two hundred to three 
hundred eggs in the clover stem, which it usually punctures 
for that purpose. The larvae, or worms, are constitutionally 
hungry and consume every part of the plant above the surface 
of the earth. The beetles are described by Prof. Cook as 
doing very serious damage in June or July, thus completing 
the work of destruction begun by the larvae. Inasmuch as 
these beetles are waterproof, they may be expected to spread 
very rapidly along streams, and once introduced are liable to ■ 
become a very serious pest unless they fall a prey to their 
parasitic and other enemies. Paris green would no doubt 
destroy them as it does other insects, but it is not a practical 
remedy under western conditions, nor with field crops. It is 
probable that no better thing can be done than to plow up the 
infested clover fields in May and plant them to corn. It is. 
to be sincerely hoped that the insect will not appear in the 
West. 

The clover leaf hopper {Agallia sanguinolentd). Of the 
numerous minute leaf-hoppers that affect different crops, this, 
is one of the very abundant and widespread species. It 
appears to be quite distinctively a clover feeder, for, while it 
occurs on other plants and doubtless at times feeds upon them, 
it shows decided preference for this as its staple food. The 
life history has been worked out by Prof. Osborn and is in 



114 



CLOVER CULTURE. 



brief as follows : The adult insect hibernates and may be 
found in sunny places in early ? -ring-, or, for that matter, at 
any warm spell during- the winter. It is about one-eighth oi 
an inch long-, and is shown in the fig-ure at c much enlarg-ed, 
the line at the left being- a little long-er than the actual 
leng-th of the averag-e specimens. It is broad in proportion 
to lengfth, and is marked with numerous dark blotches and 
stripes. The adults pair during- April and the females 
deposit eg-g-s in the leaves of clover and probably also in 




THB CLOVER LEAF-HOPPER. 

{Agallia sangMinolenta), a larvae, ^ pupa, tr adult, <^ head in front: all enlarged, Bi2« 
lines a little too long.— (After Oeborn). 

the petiole and perhaps also near the g-round in the crown. 
The first larvae appear during- the month of May, thoug-h eg-g* 
deposition lasts for some time and larvae of this first brood 
may be appearing- for some weeks. Some-of them mature, 
producing- the adults by early in July, and these deposit eg-g-s 
which produce a second brood of larvae, and it is possible that 
the earliest maturing- of these mig-ht produce a third brood, 
but the bulk of the insects are doubtless included within 
two broods. Remedial measures for this pest are not readily 
applied and the only reccommendation that seems feasible at 
present is to use the flat "hopper-dozer," or "Tar Pan," which 
has been proven at the Iowa Experiment Station to be so effec- 
tive in killing- the leaf-hoppers in pastures and meadows. It 
will also serve to diminish their numbers g-reatly to burn over 
the old g-rass, along- fences and other places where the insects 
hibernate, during- late fall or early spring-. " The "Tar Pan" 
could be best used in summer, directly after the cutting- of the 
first crop of clover. 

Clover hay worm (Asopia costalis). Heretofore we have 
treated of insects that feed on clover roots and the clover stalk, 



CLOVER CULTURE. 



lis 




and it now only remains to treat of the clover hay worm,4eav- 
ing those that infest the seed to be considered in Chapter XIL 
The clover hay worm, {Asopia cos/a/ts), Fabr., belong-s to 
the same family as the moth that infests bee hives and the moth 
common in meal. The illustration herewith given will 
enable our readers to identify the worm. In it, as described 
by Prof. Cook, 1 and 2 represent the larvae suspended by 
threads of their own spinning, 3 represents the cocoon, 4 the 

chrysalis, 5 the moth 
with winf s spread, 6 the 
moth at rest, and 7 the 
larvce concealed in a case 
of silk which it has 
spun. The eggs are 
laid on the clover. The 
larvae work in a silken 
case and thus often mat 
the hay into a great 
mass. They may be 
seen in summer working 
on hay, bui; more usually 
in February or March, 
when stacks and mow« 
may be fairly alive with 
larvae. They often crawl into the stack to protect them- 
selves from the cold. The color of the larvae is dark brown, 
the cocoon is white and the chrysalis yellow, the moth purple 
with a silken luster and it has two bright spots on the wings. 
Prof. Riley described the insect at an earlier date in the 6th 
Missouri Report. Prof. F. M. Webster, of Wooster, Ohio, 
special agent of the Department of Agriculture, in "Insect 
Life," (volume 4, numbers 3 and 4, November 1891,) paid a visit 
to the farm of Prof. W. I. Chamberlain on April 27th, 1891, 
for the purpose of investigating this worm at work. The hay 
was in an open stack and was damaged twenty per cent. It 
was found that the majority of the larvae could be killed by 
re-stacking the hay and dusting it with two pounds of pow- 
dered pyrethrum, mixed with ten pounds of flour, to each ton of 
hay. A number of larvae were taken from this hay and 
placed in breeding cages. They continued to feed on the 
dry hay for a considerable time, the pupa being first 
observed on May 25th, and moths beginning to issue on 
June 12th. The eggs appeared to be laid on the heads 
of growing clover and about July 1st the young larvae 
appeared. It would seem from this that the eggs may be 
deposited on the plants in the field and thus the larva 



THE CLOVER HAY "R'ORH. 



116 CLOVER CULTURE. 

be drawn to the stack or mow, and also that the eg-g-s 
may be deposited in the stacks early in August. The only 
remedy we can suggest for the destruction of this pest, should 
it appear, is to burn up all the old stacks of hay left over 
from the preceding year, to remove all old hay from 
barns, and to thoroughly cleanse all sheds and barns where 
the pest has become established. 

The clovers, however, suffer seriously from other than 
insect enemies. They are subject to a peculiar kind of rust, 
{Uromyces trifolti.) This rust is a fungus or low form of 
plant life, without chlorophyll, or the coloring matter of 
plants, and without roots, stems, or leaves, which derives its 
nourishment from the clover plant. It is, therefore, a para- 
site and is reproduced by spores which float in the air, and 
when placed under proper conditions, germinate and develop 
on the leaves of the plant. This clover rust has appeared 
but recently in the West. It was first reported on white 
clover in Iowa by Prof. Arthur in 1884 and seems to be more 
widely distributed than is generally supposed. Prof. Under- 
wood reported it in the vicinity of Syracuse, N. Y., in 1888. 
Dr. Roland Thaxter reported it near New Haven, Conn.,^ 
in the annual report of the Connecticut Agricultural 
Experiment Station in 1889, page 175. In Bulletin No. 15, 
Cornell Agricultural Experiment Station, Prof. Dudley re- 
ports it as common about Ithaca, N. Y., and in August, 
1890, it was reported in the Monthly Review of the Iowa 
"Weather and Crop Service as common at Ames, Iowa, where 
Prof. Pammel reports that it has been unusually severe during- 
the past summer. This rust usually appears on the rowen 
or second crop, and it would be an interesting" investigation 
to ascertain whether it affects clover when under hard con- 
ditions, such, for example, as an exceedingl}'^ wet and hot 
^ear, or when plants are weakened by previous drouth or by 
insect enemies. It is difl&cult to suggest any remedy short 
of plowing up the field, but it is not likely that it will do any 
serious damage where clover is grown in short rotation. 
Where there is much affected clover in a permanent pasture, 
burning over the field late in the fall would, no doubt, prove 
advantageous. 

In this connection attention should also be called to the 
violet root fung"us, {_Rhizoctonia Tnedicaginis)^ which, in parts 
of Europe, is a serious pest. The fungus covers the roots 
with a violet mould. Plants affected with this disease wilt 
suddenly and then die. The disease spreads in circular 
areas. It also affects alfalfa, in fact, has been reported on 
that host by Mr. Webber, in Nebraska. (Flora of 



CLOVER CULTURE. lU 

Nebraska, pag-e 76). Carrots and mang-olcls are also affected 
Some of the clover sickness referred to by European writen 
is undoubtedly due to the abundance of this parasite in the 
soil. Everyone should be on the lookout for this fung-us 
If found, it should be exterminated at once. Rotation wit? 
corn and oats for a number of years has been very effective 

The clovers, however, are subject to a very much more 
■dang-erous, thoug^h, fortunately, as yet an uncommon para- 
site, the clover dodder, {Cuscuta epithymiitn). The dodders 
belong to the morning- glory family, and are near relations 
to the common bind-weed, the morning" g^lor}-, moon flowei 
and sweet potato. The genus Ctiscuta, or dodder, contains 
upward of a hundred different species, forty-four of which 
have been found in America, and thirty-nine of these are 
found in no other part of the world. They occur on various 
native plants such as smart weed, goldenrod and sunflowers. 
The read-^r, passing through a slough in the fall of the year 
that has been allowed to grow up to weeds, common to such 
locations, may have noticed a vine of reddish or yellow color, 
closely entwined around some weeds and which, on examina- 
tion, has no connection with the ground. This is one of 
the dodders. Dodder grows from seed and if it finds no 
suitable plant upon which to take hold, dies: , If, however, 
it reaches a stalk of clover or alfalfa, the clover dodder 
pierces the bark with small and short rootlets which are 
called suckers or haustoria, and then lets go of the ground 
and lives from the plant, like a worthless son-in-law, who finds 
it easier to live off his wife's parents than to make a living 
for himself. 

The dodders contain little, if any, green coloring matter 
in the minute scales on the stems, which are their substitute 
for leaves, or in the stems themselves, and, hence, cannot 
assimilate, that is, make starch out of raw material as the 
ordinary green leaves do, but must derive their nourishment 
entirely from the plant upon which they livefL They are, 
therefore, essentially parasitic. The stems of the dodder 
are small and fleshy, orange or reddish in color, and are 
twisted around the stalk of the host, or plant on which they 
feed. At the base of the flower and at the joints of the 
stems may be found minute scales which are rudimentary 
leaves ; but the plant in its present stage of development has 
no need of green leaves, as it finds food already prepared in 
the host plant. The reader will find, on the following page, 
an illustration of this detestable parasite, by referring to 
which he can follow the description herewith given the more 
readily. The flowers appear in clusters around the stem. 



118 



CLOVER CULTURE. 




THE CLOVER DODDER. {Ct4 scuta Epithymum.) 



CLOVER CULTURE. 119 

soon forming- a capsule, which contains four seeds. The 
capsule does not split into lobes, but opens by a trans- 
verse circular line. Each seed contains a thread-shaped 
embryo, which is spirally coiled in the albumen. The 
albumen is the nourishing- material stored up in the seed out- 
side of the embryo or g-erm. This embryo is dependent for 
its development upon the albumen stored up in the seed. 
The number of flowers in the cluster range from ten to 
twenty, and the seeds are of a pale g-ray color, difficult to 
detect with the naked eye, and, hence, the rapid spread of 
the parasite. As an example of the difficulty in detecting 
these seeds, we notice the report of the Delaware Experiment 
Station on a sample of alfalfa sent for examination, as fol- 
lows : 

The purchaser remarked that it was one of the purest samples of 
seed he had ever seen, and an examination proved this fact, the propor- 
tion of impurities being only four-tenths of one per cent, mainly dirty; 
but a close examination revealed the presence of Cuscutn, or dodder seed, 
at the rate of seven hundred and twenty to the pound. This seed, when 
sown at the rate of lifteen pounds to the acr^, which is about one-half 
that generally sown in Germany, would furnish nearly eleven thousand 
Cuscuta seed to the acre, or enough to give one seed every two feet, in 
drills two feet apart. The sowing of this much Ciiscuta seed upon 
an acre of land, would, at the least, be a dangerous procedure, and 
might result In a total destruction of a crop In the course of two or three 
years. Every precaution should be taken against the introduction of 
this parasite into the state. In Germany its presence has proved a 
national calamity, and well nigh forced German farmers to abandon the 
growth of clover. The flax dodder, according to Ledoux, broke up the 
culture of flax in North Carolina and paved the way to cotton culture. 
In Germany the fight against the Cuscuta has been vigorous, but the 
enforcement of stringent laws and the sharp eye of the German govern- 
ment over the quillty of clover and alfalfa seed has done much to reduce 
this evil. 

It will be seen from the above what untold daniag-e 
might be done to the clover interests of the West by the 
introduction of this seed. When the seed falls to the 
ground it usually remains dormant until the following 
spring, when the embryo begins growth by sending one end 
into the soil, and with the other sends up a stem, turning 
from right to left, or contrary to the sun's apparent motion. 
If it is in reach of a clover plant it seizes it by means of its 
sucker-like points, which it at once throws out and then goes 
on fastening itself to the foster plant and others in the 
vicinity. It then lets go its hold on the ground. Dodder 
is an annual and therefore can be destroj'ed before it has 
ripened seed, and should be in every case where it is observed. 
The best method we know of to get rid of it is to cut th-e 
infected portion close to the ground and then burn it. The 



120 CLOVER CULTURE. 

mowing, however, should be as close as possible, inasmuch as 
the dodder flowers quite low. Where seed is suspected it 
should be sifted carefully through a seive, the seed being bul 
half the size of clover. 

Our attention was first called to this parasite by the 
receipt of a sample from Mr. J. N. Downing, of Hall Town. 
Missouri, with the statement that it prevailed largely in his 
district and was introduced in seed shipped in during the 
previous spring. It has been reported elsewhere in Missouri 
and Canada. The sample was submitted to Prof. Pammel, 
of Ames, Iowa, and also to Prof. McBride, of the Iowa State 
University, from whose replies, published in the Home- 
stead of October 18, 1889, and from Bulletin No. 8, of the 
Colorado Experiment Station, the above description has been 
taken. Subsequently we received a package of dodder on 
clover from the southern part of Iowa, which, however, on 
examination by Prof. Bessey, of the Nebraska Experiment 
Station, was pronounced to be a native dodder, different from 
the Cuscuta epithymum, and which had adopted the bad 
habit of living on clover instead of its natural host. Bul- 
letin No. 8, of the Colorado Experiment Station, above 
mentioned, reports three species of parasite on alfalfa in 
that vicinity. These are the Cuscuta epilinum^ or the flax 
dodder, Cuscuta Gronovii, a species abundant in wet, shady 
places from Canada to the Rocky Mountains, through Min- 
nesota, Iowa and Texas, and also parasitic on the great 
rag weed {Afnbrosia irifida,) and other members of the sun- 
flower family. This is the most common of all the species 
and is frequently found in Iowa, especially about Ames and 
Des Moines. Fortunately for the West', although the 
various dodders are generally distributed, they do not usually 
attack cultivated plants. *We have mentioned most of the 
spots certainly known to be infested with clover dodder. 
We have dealt with the subject thus fully, in order to warn 
our readers of the danger of trifling with it wherever it 
appears, as nothing but the most prompt and vigorous 
measures will be efficient in dealing with this parasite. 



''^^~ 



CLOVER SEED AND ITS INSECT ENEMIES. 



CHAPTER XII. 



While some clovers are grown for pasture and fertility, 
others for pasture, seed and fertility, others for seed and fer- 
tility, and still others for hay, seed and fertility, it is impor- 
tant in every case that the plant should seed abundantly. 
Even if the farmer never takes a seed crop, it is important 
to him that the plants should bear more or less seed every 
year. Many clovers being- annuals, others biennials and still 
others short perennials, it is important that the stand should 
be mantained by self seeding- ; everything, therefore, that 
bears upon the seed crop is of interest to every clover grower. 

A full crop of clover seed of any of the varieties is the 
result of the harmonious •'co-operation of man, nature and 
insects. Nature must provide the soil and a fitting season, 
man must do his part in preparing the soil, sowing the seed, 
and, so to speak, superintending the work, while the insects 
must perform the indispensable work of cross fertilizing the 
seed, a work which they can depute to neither man nor 
nature. In order, therefore, that the farmer may act intelli- 
gently and co-operate with nature and his insect friends, it is 
important that he should know something of the process of 
insect fertilization of the clover plant. # 

To give the reader full and accurate information on this 
point, we have requested Prof. L. H. Pammel, of the Iowa 
Agricultural College, at Ames, Iowa, to explain in detail the 
method by which red and mammoth clover are pollinated," and 
the part which various insects play in this important work. 
This he has kindly done in the following : 

In order to understand the method of pollination, we must have a 

1121) 



122 CLOVER CULTURE. 

K-lear understanding of the parts of the flower. The clover flower con 
sists of two kinds of organs, known as tlie essential and non-essential. 
The essential are absolutely necessary in the production of seed. Th( 
non-essential, which surround the former, consist of two sets of modified 
leaves, the outer known as the calyx. This is green and made up of ac 
onlarged lower portion which bears five bristle-shaped lobes. Next tc 
the calyx is the colored part of the flower, known as the corolla, or, in 
common language, the blossom. It is made up of five parts known as 
petals. Flowers, like clover, in which the petals are unlike in size. Afe 
known as irregular, and many irregular flowers need insects to carry 
the pollen. In some flowers both calyx and corolla are absent, but in no 
case can seed be produced where the stamens and pistil, the essential 
parts of the flower, are absent The stamens occur next to the corolla, 
while the pistil is found in the center. The corolla of the clover floret* 
consists of the following parts: An upper, larger petal known as the 
bearer, two lateral petals known as the wings, and two lower petals 
resembling the keel of a boat, which are united and are commonly 
known as the "keel." The keel contains the ten stamens, each stamen 
consisting of an anther, at the end of which 's attached a thread-like 
affair known as the filament. But in the case of clover the filaments 
are united to form a tube, the anthers containing the pollen. The pistil 
is also found in the keel. The expanded portion contains the unde- 
veloped seed's. The narrow neck is known as a style, the tip is the 
stigma. The color of the clover flower is especially attractive to insects. 
The honey which the insect seeks is contained in the tube formed by the 
union of the fine, thread-like bodies or filaments. 

When an insect like the burabie-bee lights on the flower, it uses the 
keel and wings (the latter being attached to the tube containing the 
nectar) as a resting place, its weight pressing the keel down and causing 
the pistil and stamens, the latter being somewhat shorter than the pistil, 
to come in contact with the underside of the bee's head. The insect is 
certain to leave some of the pollen from another flower on the stigma. 
The honey is obtained by the insect thrusting its proboscis into the 
united filaments of the stamens, which has a slit on the upper side to 
crive place for a free tenth stamen. Self-polliDatio", or pollination of 
the flower from its own stamens, is not excluded, as the insect leaves th« 
flowers. Does self-fertilization occur? Charles Darwin (Cross and 
Self-Fertilization, page 3G1) says: "One hundred flower heads on 
plants protected by a net did not produce a single seed, whilst one hun- 
dred heads on plants growing outside, which were visited by bees, 
yielded sixty-eight grains weight in seed." making a total of 27:iQ seeds 
for the one hundred heads. Mr. Sirrine (Bulletin i3, Iowa Agr,icultural 
Experiment Station, page 90) found that when pollea of the same flower 
was used, no seed set. Prof. Cook (Bulletin 20, Division of Entomology 
United States Department of Agriculture, page 87) found that in ten 
heads of white clover from which insects were excluded, no seed set. 
In a similar pot of ten heads not protected from insects by gauze, seeds 
set. In ten heads of red clover covered, no seeds set ; in a similar pot 
not covered, seed were produced. Prof. Beal, in' Grasses of North 
America, pages 325-328, inclusive, also shows the inability of clover to 
self-fertilize. It is well known that before the introduction of the 
bumble-bee Into Australia and New Zealand, clover did not set seed, but 
since the British Government introduced the bumble-bee in 18:4, clover 
seeds are produced. They have since multiplied with remarkable 

* The beads of red and mammoth clover are made up of from twenty to sixty flowert. 
)r florets, each separate lu their etructure and together formiuc: what is ordinarily 
iuown as the clover blossom. 



CLOVER CULTURE. 123 

rapidity. According to Thompson (Insect Life, volume 4, page 157> 
they have so greatly increased that he asks whether they may not 
become a serious pest to the apiarist, as they worlt on all sorts of cu'ti- 
vated flowers. 

In order to reach the honey an insect must have a tongue from .3.545 
to .3937 inches (9 to 10 millimeters) long. The honey lies from .2755 to 
.3937 Inches (7 to 9 millimeters) deep. Any insect sufficiently heavy ta 
press down the keel can pollinate the flower. Bumble-bees are, of 
course, the common pollinators. Prof. Osborn informs me that he has^ 
observed two common species (Bnmhus Peyinsylvanicvfi &ud li. fervidus). 
My friend, Mr. Robertso", records several m^re. The honey bee can,, 
no doubt, pollinate red clover, as they often collect pollen. I have 
taken an interest in bees for many years, and have given some attention) 
to red clover and honey bees. The following paragraph from a paper 
published in 1888 may be of interest : 

"In the summer of 1883, in the vicinity of La Crosse, Wisconsin. I 
noticed large numbers of honey bees on the flowers of red clover. In 
many cases they were actively collecting pollen, but in some cases honey, 
through perforations in the corolla made by some other insects. Her- 
man Mueller says the honey bee ' usually visits the red clover only for its 
honey, which its proboscis is not able to reach in the legitimate manner 
— yet I have now and th^n seen hundreds of honey bees on a patch of 
red clover, all busy collecting pollen.' Here at Ames I have seen red 
clover visited by several butterflies, especially the large red but'erfly 
(Danais archippus) , cabbage butterfly (Pleris rapae), the yellow butterfly 
(CoJciw phllodice), also C. eurytheme, and a fly {Boml)yrius). Red clover is- 
adapted especially to bees, but Dr. Hermann Mueller of Germany, and 
Mr. Robertson, of Carlinville, Illinois, record a larg« number of butterfly 
visitois. Thirteen out of twenty visitors belonging to the butterfly 
family were observed in Illinois. There is no question that they do occa- 
sionally pollinate red clover and effect cross fertilization. Mr. Robert- 
son writes: 'Bumble-bees depress the keel so that their heads and 
proboscides are well dusted with pollen, but butterflies can insert their 
thin tongue* without depressing the keel, and even if they get a little 
pollen on their thin proboscides, it is apt to be wiped off by the closely 
approximated tin of the petals, which close the mouth of the flower." 

Th. Pergande expresses the belief that different species of thrips, 
which are found in many kinds of flowers, may effect cr'ss pollination 
(Psyche, volume 3, number 100, page 381). Prof. Osborn informs me- 
that two kinds of thrips are common in clover bhssoms, Thrips tritici and 
Pliloethrips-nigra, but these certainly cannot generally efifect crosi fer- 
tilization. 

Can the honey Lee effect cross fertilization in mammoth clover 
(Trifolium viediiim) ? It probably can do so as it does in the common 
red I have not studied the flowers of mammoth clover carefully, but so 
far as I can see, the flowers of the forms in the Collesre collection are 
about the same size as red clover. One form has much smaller heads a^d 
the flowers are also somewhat smaller, but I am inclined to think that 
mammoth clover is pollinated principally by bumble-bees. 

The work of honey bees in fertilizing white and alsike clover is well 
known ; in fact, tbey can easily accomplish this. One other thought 
suggests itself to me in this connection. I believe it is generally sup- 
posed that the second crop of clover produces more seeds than the first. 
This 1 t" ..ik is due to insects, there being a much larger crop of bumble- 
bees at the time of the second bloom than at^the first. 

Our readers, even thof^e who have the least familiarity 
with scientific terms, will, v/itli the forcj^-oinj^- explanation, be 



124 



CLOVER CULTURE. 



able to understand fully the structure of the blossom of red 
clover, and the method of pollination with the further aid of 
the illustration herewith presented. Fig-ure 1 in the illus- 
tration represents the floret, or one of the minute flowers ol 
which the clover head is made up, separated from the head, 
and viewed from below. Figure 2 represents the same flower 
•with the larger petal stripped off and viewed from above. 

The calyx of which 
Prof. Pammel speaks 
is marked a in fig- 
ures No. 1 and 2 in 
the illustration. Im- 
mediately above it is 
the corolla, or what 
is usually called the 
blossom, marked h, 
made up of five parts 
known as pet als. 
The bearer or vexil- 
lum is the upper, 
larger petal, marked 
c in figure 1, while 6 
represents the lower 
border of a wing oi 
small petal bent out- 
wards, f its outer surface and g a pouch swelling at its base. 
The lower petals form what is described by Prof. Pammel as 
the keel or carina, and in figures 1, 2 and 3 are marked h. 
Figure 5 represents the right half of the carina or keel, from 
without, while figure 4 represents the right wing or side petal 
from within, the claws in both being broken off short. Fig- 
ure 6 represents the pistil, /, and stamens, w, without which 
no flower can exist, and, hence, called the essential organs. 
They are found emerged from the depressed keel. It will 
thus be seen that gravitation of itself would cause the pollen 
from the stamens to fall away from instead of towards the 
pistil, or part to be fertilized. This explains why insect 
fertilization is necesssary. Let us now see how a bee 
fertilizes clover. It clings with its fore . legs to the 
wings, or lateral petals, resting its middle and hind legs 
on the lower part of the flower, the keel and wings are 
drawn down to the stamens and the anthers are thrust up 
against the underside of the bee's head as described by Prof. 
Pammel above. In going to another flower it carries the 
pollen with it and places it on the vital parts of the second 
plant, thus producing cross-fertilization. 




THX BED CLOTSB BLOSSOM. 



CLOVER CULTURE. 12b 

It follows, therefore, that everything- which favors the 
increase of bumble-bees is of advantage to the clover g-rower, 
and it need not be said that their nests should be protected 
instead of ruthlessly destroyed. It will also be seen, in view 
of what has been said as to the ability of the honey bee tc 
fertilize red and mammoth clovers while gathering- pollen it 
not honey, that it will inure to the advantage of every farmer 
to keep a few hives of bees, always selecting the Italians, as 
larger and the more industrious. In fact, while we have 
seen the Italians and their crosses working on mammoth 
clover year after year, we have very rarely seen the native or 
black bee engaged in this useful work. It would be well 
worth all the cost involved, if the Department of Agriculture 
were to import some of the giant Asiatic bees for the purpose 
of securing, by means of a cross on our native bees, a variety 
with sufficient weight of body and length of tongue to enable 
it to perform the office of the bumble-bee in fertilizing the 
red and mammoth clovers. If the produce of these could be 
again crossed with the stingless bee of South America, the 
result would be what might well be called the "granger's- 
bee," or the "clover grower's delight." 

-As stated in Chapter III, the mammoth clover is too late 
in maturing to furnish both a hay and a seed crop. The 
seed, must, therefore, be taken from the first crop, as it is 
usually termed. It is desirable, however, to use some method 
of getting rid of the lower twelve inches of the stalk on. 
account of the great bulk of the crop. Where it is possible, 
this should be pastured off. The stock may be allowed free 
range of the field up to June 10th, in the latitude of central 
Iowa, in ordinary seasons. It is better to let the crop be well 
started and then put on enough stock to eat it down closely. 
This will not only reduce the amount of haulm to be handled,, 
but also thicken up the stand by favoring branching. Some 
farmers practice mowing about the 10th of June. This, 
however, requires to be done with a good deal of sound judg- 
ment, as sornetimes the growth is so rank by this time that 
there is danger, if rain should follow immediately, of the cut 
clover smothering out the plant, or at least allowing the 
weeds to get the advantage of the clover. 

Clover should be cut for seed with a reaper of some kind, 
when ripe, that is, when all the heads are turned brown or 
black. The most convenient implement is the old-fashioned 
self-raker. When this is not available some farmers use the 
ordinary binder, removing the apparatus for binding the 
sheaf and substituting the flax attachment. The cost for the 
♦lax attachment is about live dollars. This is said to throw 



126 CLOVER CULTURE. 

the g-avels with the clover heads up and therefore in the best 
-hape for drying^. Others remove the binding* apparatus, 
Leaving" the deck board and dropper, and bolting- on the latter 
SI three-inch board of the same thickness, extending- eig-liteen 
■inches to the rear. They then bolt a piece of iron half an 
inch wide, a quarter of an inch thick and eig-hteen inches 
long, on the rear end of this dropper and at right ang-les to it, 
Trending in a semi-circle upward to the driver's seat and to 
the end of which they attach a small rope or cord bring-ing- it 
up throug-h a small pulley fastened on the top of the machine 
.and above elevating- rollers and extending- to a treadle on the 
foot board in front of the driver's seat. Wood pieces are put 
in in lieu of the iron parts that have been removed with the 
oinding" apparatus. In this way the clover can be cut and 
lumped in such gavels as seems best. Where the stand is 
ihin it can be cut with the ordinary mower and raked in small 
windrows, taking- care to rake it only when slig-htly damp, 
especially after it has had two or three days of hot sun. 

The threshing- should in all cases be done with a huller 
where one can be obtained. The hulling- attachments, while 
jften the only practicable means of g-etting- the seed, leave 
much of it in the straw and chaff, and when these are used it 
will pay to thresh the chaff the second time. Whenever the 
g-rowing- of clover seed has been established, threshers will 
find it profitable to procure huUers, and in good seasons will 
_io a ver}' profitable business. 

The seed crop of the common red clover comes from the 
second g-rowth. It is not true that the first crop does not 
seed. The only reason that the seed does not materialize is 
the lack, in most seasons, of insect fertilization, due to the 
•time of cutting-. To insure a g-ood crop of seed the first crop 
should be removed not later than the first week of July, 
.althoug-h when the autumn is peculiarly favorable a crop of 
seed can be g-rown on cutting-s as late as the middle of that 
month. The method of handling- is the same as that men- 
tioned above in the case of mammoth clover. With both it 
is a mistake to allow the clover, after being- cut, to lie in the 
g-avel long-er than is necessary- for easy threshing-. If a 
huller cannot be secured it should be stacked and well covered 
and allowed to remain until the cold winter weather. 

The seed crop of the alfalfa is taken from one of the last 
cuttings and the white and the alsike from the first. No 
special directions need be given as to the threshing of either 
of these, as they all thresh readily. Great care, however, 
should be exercised in handling them after cutting, as the 
•seed in all shells out quite readily. 



CLOVER CULTURE. 



127 



If insects are essential to the pDllitiatioii and fertilization 
of clover seed, they also play an important part in its destruc- 
tion, and one of the most 
diflicult problems in g"row- 
ing- clover seed is to escape 
the ravag-es of insects that 
prey upon the seed. We, 
therefore, conclude this 
chapter with a description 
of the habits and life his- 
tory of two of the most 
dang-erous clover seed 
pests, having" described in 
the previous chapters the 
insects that prey upon the 
leaf, the root and the ha}- 
after it has been cured. 
The most dangerous, 
perhaps, of these is the 
clover-seed midge, illustra- 
tions of which will be 
found on this page. In 
explanation of these illus- 
trations, after Riley, and 
for the purpose of more 



THE CLOVER-SEED MIDOE (MALE). 

readily indent i f yi n g- 
the midge, should it 
appear in any field, we 
call the attention of our 
readers more particu- 
larly to figures 1 and 2 
herewith given. Fig-- 
ure 1 represents an 
enlarged back view of 
the male, with scales 
stripped off in order to 
show the structure , . 

, , , THE CL0VER-9KEO MIDOE (FEMALEf. 

more clearly ; b repre- 
sents the eye, the palpi and the basal joints of the antennae 
highlv magnified ; c represents the male organ highly magni- 
fied ; d represents the highly magnified antennul joints ; 






128 CLOVER CULTURE. 

(? represents a tarsal claw, and/" forms of scales. Figure 3 
shows an enlarg-ed view of the female, with ovipositor by 
which it deposits its eg^g"s, extended ; b represents the 
head more enlarged ; c, the tip of the ovipositor higfhly mag-- 
fied, and d a great enlargement of the antennal joints. In 
figure 3 a represents the maggot or larva en- 
larged and from the under side, while b repre- 
sents the head drawn out and more highly magni- 
fied. With this explanation the reader will be 
able to determine for himself the presence of this, 
pest. 

There are two distinct insects that pass under 
the common name of clover midge. The one^ 
the clover-seed midge, {Cccidomyia Leguniinicolay 
Lint.), the other the clover-leaf midge, {Cccidomyia 
^^-j^ tfifolii, Leow), which lives in the folded leaves of 
/^(^\ white clover and sometimes of the red. The 
r"^'^'^"^ first, which is now under discussion, affects only 
^/ the seed, and seems first to have been observed in 

^J« ' America by Prof. J. A. Lintner, in 1877. The 
larva was described briefly in 1878 in a report on 
THE LARVA, some of the injurious insects of the year, to the 
New York State Agricultural Society. Prof. Riley, of the 
Department of Agriculture, observed it in 1878 and described it 
in the annual report for the Department of Agriculture for 
that year. It was observed by Prof. Forbes in Illinois in 
1879, and since that time has extended over almost the entire 
clover growing region of the United States, with the excep- 
tion, perhaps, of southern and western Iowa and the region 
beyond the Missouri. The eggs of the midge are so small 
that it is almost impossible to see them without very good 
eyes, their average length being .01 of an inch. They are 
described by Prof. Riley as being "long, oval in shape, their 
length three times their breadth and one end slightly larger 
than the other. Their general color is pale yellow and an 
orange streak is more or less apparent according to the age 
of the embryo." The female simply pushes the eggs down 
between »he hairs which surround the seed capsule of the 
9oret or minute flowers of which the clover head is composed, 
which stage of development occurs in central Iowa in the lat- 
ter part of May. In other words, the egg is deposited before 
the bloom appears, but after the head is formed. By the 
time the larvaj are hatched, the mouth of the floret is open, 
and the maggots or laTvai work their way throgh the mouth 
of the flower down to the seed. 

The larvae or maggots hatched from the egg seem to 



CLOVER CULTURE. 129 

vary much in color, some being- brig-ht orang-e red, others 
■white and occasionally with a ting-o of pink. Some are 
smaller than others, the g-rcatest variation being- in the 
males. It is these mag-g-ots that do the damag:e, feeding- 
upon the clover seed, while yet in the doug-h state, and issu- 
ing-, when they have completed their g-rowth, in the last part 
of June, from the head, to underg-o their second transforma- 
tion in the soil. The sig-ht of these larvae or mag-g-ots leav- 
ing- the clover is said to be an interesting- one. The head, 
which one moment seems destitute of animal life, becomes 
the next fairly swarming- with the mag-g-ots. From nearly 
every closed floret one emerg-es, wrig-gfles violently and works 
its way out and falls to the g-round. 

It should be stated in advance that insects of this kind 
exist in f oui* stag-es, the eg-g-, the mag-g-ot or larva, the pupa, 
in which- stag-e the insect passes throug-h its transformation, 
and to outward appearance to the superficial observer is 
dead, prior to assuming- the fourth stag-e, that of the perfect 
fly. It will, therefore, be understood when we speak of 
larvae that we refer to the mag-g-ot stag-e, and of pupae to the 
stag-e in which the insect passes throug-h its final period of 
transformation. This insect is, in the latitude of central 
Iowa, two-brooded, while in the more southern latitudes it is 
supposed to be three. After the insect has taken on its 
pupal stag-e, which is said to last about ten days, but no 
doubt varies, it emerg-es as a fly, and after mating-, is ready 
to lay a second crop of eg-g-s in the second crop of clover, 
hence, it will be readily seen how vast are the means of 
multiplication. 

There are but two methods known of combating- the clo- 
ver-seed midg-e. The first is that of cutting- the first crop, 
whether in the meadow or in the pastures, before the first crop 
of the midg-e leaves the head. To make this method effective, 
it would have to be done, not merely on one farm, and all 
parts of it, pastures as well as meadows, but on all the 
farms of the neig-hborhood. It is very difl&cult, if not impos- 
sible, to induce farmers to co-operate in this way, however 
much their interests mig-ht require it. The second method, 
which is almost equally as difficult, is to abandon for the time 
being- the use of the common red clover, add sow mammoth in 
its stead. This variety, as stated in preceding- chapters, comes 
in bloom some two or three weeks later than the common red, 
and matures its seed crop about the time the second crop of 
the common red is in bloom. The midg-e so far has not been 
able to time its visits so as to make the mammoth the medium 
for producing- the second crop. This method, sug-g-ested by 



130 CLOVICR' CULTURE. 

the well known periods of the appearance of the midg"e, seems 
to have been found entirely practicable in Ohio and eastern 
states where the midg-e has fully established itself. It is im- 
portant to use very g-reat care in procuring- seed, as the midg-e 
is likely to be carried in the seed and planted where it will 
develop and form a new starting- point for this pest. Clover 
seed should never be purchased except after being- examined 
with a strong- mag-nifying- g-lass. With or without a g-lass 
the best way of detecting- it is by running- a handful on white 
paper, and if the mag-g-ots are in the seed they will be easily 
recog-nized. Where they are found the seed should be re- 
jected, althoug-h they would probably be destroyed by the hot 
water treatment known as that of Jensen for smut ; viz., 
steeping- the seed just before sowing-, first in water at a tem- 
perature of 120 deg-rees, and then afterward in w5.ter of the 
temperature of 135 deg-rees. Althoug-h we have never tried 
this on clover seed, oats has been found to endure this tem- 
perature for fifteen minutes. Miss Eleanor Ormerod, of St. 
Albans, Eng-., formerly consulting- entomolog-ist of the Royal 
Ag-ricultural Society, states that the midg-e has been found" in 
American seed exported to Eng-land, and emphasizes the ne- 
cessity for the g-reatest watchfulness in, purchasing- clover 
seed from any locality known to be infected. 

Like most other insects when they multiply in g-reat num- 
bers, the clOver-seed midg-e seems to have its parasites. Prof. 
Riley, in his report to the Commissioner of Ag-riculture, to be 
found in the Report of the Department of Agriculture for 
1879, pag-e 196, describes two parasites which work on the 
midg-e and g-reatl}' reduce their numbers. The first is a chal- 
cid, called Eurytonui funcbn's, belong-ing- to the same family 
as the joint worm fly. This parasite, which is very minute, 
underg-oes its transformations within the seed, and g-naws an 
irreg-ular hole throug-h the seed larg-e enoug-h to let it out 
shortly after the time when the mag-g-ots have left the seed to 
g-o into the ground. An examination of an infected field by 
Prof. Riley on the 20th of June showed that five-sixths of the 
seed had been destroyed by the midg-es, and that four-lifths of 
the midg-es had been destroyed by this parasite. 

Another parasite, belong-ing- to a different famih*, called 
Phitygaster error, (Vitcli,) has been found working- on the 
midg-e in New York. Instead of underg-oing- its transforma- 
tions entirely within the seed, the parasite stays with the 
midg-e, g^oes with it into the g-round and emerg-es as a fuU- 
g-rown parasite from the cocoon of the midg-e. Prof. Beal in 
his work on g-rasses, p. 391, states that the larva (of the fall 
l)rood, of course) has been found in seed on the market, and 



CLOVER CULTURE. 



131^ 



that this explains the rapid distribution of this insect. This 
emphasizes the importance of farmers procuring- their seed, 
wherever it is possible, from the growers and from men of 
well known reputation whose fields have not been infected by 
the insect. 

Another clover pest, well known in the East, and which 
has become somewhat common as far west as Iowa, is the 
clover-seed caterpillar, {grap/iolipha intastindana, Clemens.). 
These caterpillars now seem to be quite widel}'' distributed,, 
having" first appeared in New York, Pennsj'lvania, Washing-- 
ton and Michigan prior to 1885. They were first noticed itt 
ver}' great numbers at Ames, Iowa, the last of May, 1891^ 
The following description is ta- 
ken mainly from Bulletin No. 14, 
Iowa Experiment Station, Au- 
gust, 1891. The moths increased 
from the time they were first ob- 
served until the 3d of June, and 
on the 25th of June an examina- 
tion of one hundred and sevent}-- 
seven heads showed ninety-one 
heads infested by the caterpil- 
lars of the moth and eighty-six 
not infested. At this time man}- 
larvae were full grown and some 
were spinning their cocoons. 
The hay was cut at this date and 
an examination of forty-eight 
clover heads taken from scattered bunches showed two-third& 
of them infested, while of forty-two heads from a different 
field, cut two days earlier, only three were found infested. The 
accompanying illustration, original with the Iowa Experi- 
mental Station, will enable our readers to identify this pest; 
a represents the larva, or caterpillar; b, the pupa, or larv<L 
underg-oing its transformation to a moth; r, the moth, all 
these greatly magnified, while d represents the moth in its 
natural state. ' The larvaj are dirty white and the pupse a light 
brown, while the moths arc small, brown and often nearly 
black, with white lines and dots marking- the wings. The 
larva:- are about one-fourth of an inch long, while the moths 
are from one-third to two-fifths of an inch, with wing-s ex- 
panded. The damage done by this insect is by eating into the 
florets or small flowers, of which the clover head is composed,, 
and later into the seed vessels of the florets, causing the flo-w- 
ers to dry up and the seeds to shell from their receptacles like 
chaff. Inasmuch as the track of the larvrc is uniformlv from_ 




THE CLOVEB-SEED CATERPILLAR. 



132 CLOVER CULTURE. 

the base of the blossom or floret upward, and the young- larvae 
arc found almost invariably near the base, and beg-inning- their 
work on the florets there, it would seem that the eggs are de- 
posited at the base of the floret. In working upward they 
usually form a spiral track around it. 

The second brood were observed at Ames, pairing during 
the last week of July, and by August 5th the larvae were 
found in great numbers. This rate of growth would seem to 
indicate that there are three broods per year in the latitude of 
Iowa, and possibly, though not probably, four. 

Since the foregoing was written. Bulletin 19 of the Iowa 
Experiment Station has been issued, containing the results of 
careful investigations during the season of 1892, by Mr. H. A. 
Gossard, assistant entomologist, who has given special atten- 
tion to this species. This investigation shows that the insect 
is three brooded in Iowa ; that moths appear in late May or 
earl}' June, deposit eggs in June in the involucre of the clover 
head or in the florets, and larvae occur in heads of clover in 
latter part of June. When the clover is not in bloom, eggs 
may be deposited in the crown and the larvce work on other 
parts of the plant. Pupation occurs in late Tune or early 
July and moths appearing during Jul}' deposit eggs for second 
brood. These mature and produce moths for third brood in 
early September, and caterpillars of this generation, the third 
brood, become parti}- grown and hibernate, pupating in spring 
and producing the first brood of moths of the following season. 

The remedies recommended are : 1st, rotation of crops, 
not keeping clover on same ground over three years, and only 
two if the field becomes badl}- infested; 2d, that seed for new- 
crop be planted on land as remote as possible from old clover 
fields ; 3d, that infested fields from which seed is desired 
the following year be pastured in fall to clean up all late 
growth and leave the field free from vegetation in the fall, and 
that no manure be applied at the time to furnish places for 
larvae to hibernate ; 4th, that clover infested during the spring 
be cut as early as practicable, while larvae are in heads, han- 
dled as carefully as possible to prevent shaking larvae from the 
heads, and stored in stacks or barns, where the larvae are found 
to perish ; 5th, when read}- to change from clover to another 
crop, plow under some time in October, November or early in 
spring, burying the larvae as deeply as possible, and roll or 
harrow to pack the surface. 

Several parasites have been reared at Ames, and these 
will assist in reducing numbers under ordinary conditions. 



THE CLOVER ROOT TUBERCLE. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



In previous chapters we have assumed certain facts, 
namely, that the clovers of all kinds fertilize the soil while at 
the same time furnishing-, in the crop, a very large amount of 
nutritive material of the richest quality; second, that the fer- 
tilizing- material furnished by the clovers is in the form of 
nitrogenous compounds which we have grouped under the 
general name, nitrogen, and third, that this surplus of nitro- 
gen is obtained from the atmosphere through the medium of 
the tubercles or nodules on the roots of the clovers, eighty 
per cent, of the atmosphere being- nitrog-en, and therefore fur- 
nishing an inexhaustible supply. 

Having- assumed these facts so frequentl)' and stated them 
so confidently, it is but due to the reader that we should g-ive, 
in as brief and concise a manner as possible, the reasons for 
this frequent assumption and confident statemerrt. The fact 
that clover adds materially to the fertility of the land on 
which it is grown, notwithstanding the heavy drains it makes 
upon its resources, is too well known to need argument. The 
fact that this fertility is mainly in the form of nitrogenous 
compounds might well be suspected from the fact that all 
kinds of grain which make heavy drafts on the nitrogen in 
the soil do better after clover than following any other crop, 
and has been very clearly proved by analyses of soils in pots on 
which clover has been grown, the analyses having been made 
both before and after growing the clover, and in a way which 
precludes any material errors. 

The fact having been ascertained that clover does in some 
way obtain a supply of nitrogen, under certain circumstances, 

(133) 



-134 CLOVER CULTURE. 

quite independent of the supply in the soil, the interesting- and 
important question arises, how does it obtain it? It was a1 
first supposed, and quite naturally, that it obtained it by 
means of its long- tap-root, but, while it does no doubt in this 
way restore a certain portion of the nitrates that have been 
washed down by rains into the subsoil, the amount has been 
found to be very inconsiderable compared with the entire 
amount obtained. It was next supposed that the supply was 
obtained from the nitrog-en in the form of ammonia in the 
atmosphere. This ammonia, washed out, as it is, by rains, 
would be equally available for any other plant, and hence, so 
far as root action is concerned, in no way aids in the solution 
of the problem. The same remark applies to the small amount 
of nitric acid that is known to be formed in the atmosphere by 
electrical action. 

The question has arisen, whether the clovers do not obtain 
their supply of nitrogen from these two last sources through 
their leaves. To test this matter clovers have been grown in 
pots with access to air alone that had been washed by being* 
passed through water, thus removing the nitric acid or ammo- 
nia, and the result was precisely the same as in the case of 
similar pots grown in the open air. Every other means of 
determining- the source of nitrogen in the clovers having 
failed, attention was directed to the tubercles in the roots. 

If the reader will pull up a stalk of any of the clovers, 
during the growing season, he will notice on the roots, some- 
times on the smaller and sometimes on the larger, certain 
knots, warts or protuberances. These are the tubercles, a 
somewhat unfortunate name because associated with disease, 
but so definitely associated with them that it is useless to 
attempt to change it now. He will notice that the healthier 
the plant and the more vigorous its growth, the more of these 
tubercles will be found, and he will fail to find an3'where a 
healthy stalk of clover, during the period of vigorous growth, 
without these tubercles. It was this apparent connection be- 
tween the number and size of the tubercles and the vigor of 
the plant that led Prof. Helriegel, of Bernberg, Germany, to 
investigate, in 1883 and the years following, the cause of the 
tubercles on the legumes and also the relation they sustain 
to the plant. As early as 1862 he had been conducting certain 
elaborate experiments for the purpose of determining whether, 
other things being equal, the magnitude of crops was propor- 
tionate to the supply of certain essential elements of fertility 
in the soil. He had no difficulty in determining that in the 
case of the cereals, such as wheat, oats and barley, the mag- 
■nitude of the yield was proportionate to the nitrogen in the 



CLOVER CULTURE. 135 

soil ; no nitrog"cn, no crop; a certain amount yielding practi- 
cally the same crop, and the crop increasing- with the increase 
of nitrogen ; but he soon discovered that certain other plants 
•were, under certain circumstances, almost entirely independent 
of any nitrogen in the soil. He saw to his surprise, as far 
back as 1862-3, clover and peas growing in a crop of pure 
sand and producing a full crop of seed, while in other years, 
and apparently under the same conditions, they starved to 
death. He discovered that when clover and peas, growing in 
the most barren soil, had abundance of tubercles they pros- 
pered, and when the tubercles were wanting, death ensued. 
He then began a series of most elaborate experiments, con- 
ducted with the greatest care, to discover under what condi- 
tions the clovers and other legumes were thus independent of 
soil nitrogen, and from what source other than the soil they 
obtained it. It is due to the thoughtful reader that we should 
detail at some length the nature of these investigations. 

For a soil material to be used in his investigations, Prof. 
Helriegel selected fine quartz sand, such as is used in the 
manufacture of glass. This was washed twice and boiled in 
concentrated muriatic acid three times for the purpose of 
removing completely every vestige of fertility. As culture 
vessels, he used cylinders of white glass of different sizes, 
each having a hole in the bottom for drainage. Pieces of 
■quartz that had been washed carefully and then heated red 
hot were put in the bottom to afford air drainage. Upon this 
was placed a thin layer of unsized wadding and on this the 
sand, which after fertilization in a porcelain vessel was crum- 
bled into the culture vessels under slight pressure in order to 
secure the proper degree of porosity and density. The seeds 
to be used for this purpose were selected with extreme care. 
From a large number of samples the very heavy and very light 
were excluded. The remainder were then sprouted between 
folds of blotting paper, and if there was developed any defect- 
ive root or abnormal growth it was rejected, the object being 
to secure even results. Fourteen vessels thus prepared were 
sown to barley and fertilized with commercial fertilizers, con- 
taining potash and phosphoric acid, but no nitrogen. Nitro- 
gen in the form of nitrate of lime was then given in the 
following proportions: No. 1, .0336 grains; Nos. 2, 3 and 4, 
two-thirds of the amount; No. 5, one-half the amount; Nos. 6, 
7 and 8, one-third of the amount; Nos. 9, 10 and 11, one-sixth 
of the amount; No. 12, one-twelfth, and Nos. 13 and 14, none. 
At the end of the first week after sprouting the plants were 
exactly alike; no difference whatever could be noted. A few 
days afterward, or as soon as the reserved nutriment in the 



136 CLOVER CULTURE. 

seed was about exhausted, Nos. 13 and 14 began to fail. For 
a few days after this no perceptible difference could be noted 
in the growth of the other plants. No. 12 then dropped behind 
ani a few days later Nos. 9, 10 and 11, and, after a short inter- 
val, all the others up to No. 1 could be identified by their ap- 
pearance, so that in a month from the time the first plants^ 
appeared the row of pots showed clearly which had received 
the larger amounts of nitrogen. This was manifest not merely 
in the height and general vi^or of the stalk, but in the num- 
ber of shoots or stools put forth. No. 1 put out five shoots- 
or stools; Nos. 2, 3 and 4 put out four, one only of them bear- 
ing a head ; No. 5, from three to four, one bearing a head ; 
the remainder from one to two, but all failed to head. Later 
on, however, the main stalk consumed the side shoots to build 
itself up. The next lower also consumed their earlier-formed 
parts in their effort to develop heads. The results of this 
experiment with a non-leguminous plant are only what might 
have been expected, inasmuch as it has been repeated over 
and over again and always with the same result, namely, that 
within certain limits the yield of the cereals or non-leguminous 
plants is dependent upon the amount of nitrogen in the soil 
available for the plant. 

; Having thus demonstrated that the cereals were abso- 
lutely dependent upon the amount of available nitrogen in 
the soil. Prof. Helriegel conducted a series of elaborate 
experiments with the legumes, of which we give one typical 
case. Fourteen pots were selected, identical with the others, 
the soil material, the manner of filling and the fertilizers 
being precisely the same. No. 66 having the same amount 
of nitrogen as No. 1 in the barley experiments,' and Nos. 77, 
78 and 79 corresponding in amount to Nos. 13 and 14 of the 
barley table, or, in other words, with no nitrogen. The 
plants all came up well and evenly, and there was no differ- 
ence in the pots up to the end of the second week. The third 
week there was a difference not only in growth, but in color. 
Those that had no nitrogen were somewhat higher and of a 
somewhat greener color, while those that had been fertilized 
with nitrogen were darker, and the more nitrogen, the darker. 
The fourth week a difference in the development began to- 
appear. -Pots 77, 78 and 79 fell back, showing signs of 
nitrogen hunger. The new leaves were smaller and they 
seemed to be formed by pumping out and drying up of the 
lower leaves. The numbers grew normally and by the end of 
the sixth week the whole row of experimental pots very 
accurately reflected in their condition and appearance the 
amount of nitrogen each had received. During the seventh 



CLOVER CULTURE. 137 

week the picture very suddenly and decidedly chang-ed with- 
out any apparent cause. No. 77 continued to be in a 
starving- condition, but two plants in 79 took courag-e and a 
little later, two in 78 followed the example. Their sickly 
green color g-ave place to a healthier, new leaves grew 
stronger and broader and without consuming any of the 
earlier developed leaves. From this time on they made 
rapid growth and by the eleventh week they had overtaken 
those abundantly supplied with nitrogen and passed many of 
them. From this time on there was no relation or correspon- 
dence whatever between development and the quantity of 
nitrogen supplied, while the harvest bore the same general 
result, and subsequent analyses showing, in some cases, 
plants containing less nitrogen than had been given the 
vessel in which they grew, in others more, and in some large 
quantities of nitrogen where none at all had been given. 
On this Prof. Helriegel says : 

Three years of this kind of experiment demonstrated two facts 
clearly, first, that the legumes had found a source of nitrogen somewhere 
else than in the soil, and that, second, ihey might or might not thrive 
•even though the soil was amply supplied with nitrogen in a form render- 
ing it available for other plants — in short, while the harvested plant con- 
tained abundant nitrogen, whether the soil had or had not contained any, 
«eemed to have no connection with or influence upon the amount con- 
tained in the plant. Chance seemed to rule. The thriving pea vine two 
months old might fail utterly, although supplied with abundant nutri- 
ment in the shape of complete fertilizers, or it might do well with one 
from which nitrogen had been wholly omitted The first inference was 
that the pea had some source from which to provide nitrogen other than 
the soil, or, rather, some peas had and others, apparently under precisely 
the same conditions, had not. What was the source? And why could 
some plants draw on that source and others not? 

It is impossible for us to g-ive details of all the experi- 
ments undertaken to answer these two questions, for they 
cover upwards of 200 pages of Prof. Helriegel's work, of 
which we aim to give our readers only the substance. One 
cannot read them without admiring the patience and intelli- 
gent discriminations of the investigator, without admiring 
also the methods of true science which seeks to narrow 
downward gre^ually by experimental proof until one by one 
the facts are set aside as demonstrated, all bearing one way 
and leading up to one inevitable conclusion. As stated 
above, it was first discovered that plants that did well without 
nitrogenous fertilizers had tubercles on their roots ; those 
that did not do so well, had fewer, those that did not do well 
at all, had none, or nearly none. The connection between 
the presence of tubercles on the roots of the legumes and the 
capacity to obtain nitrogen, where there was none in the soil, 



138 CLOVER CULTURE. 

could not long- remain unsuspected, and numerous, long" and 
carefully conducted examinations only served to confirm the 
investigator in the certainty that tubercles and power were 
closely correlated. Tubercles and power was the law, while 
also no tubercles and no power was also a law. There was 
no visible cause for the tubercles. What was more natural 
for the scientist than to suspect an invisible cause. Recent 
discoveries in other fields sug-g-ested that probably the tuber- 
cles were of bacterial origin. To determine this, wadding, 
which lets in air, but strains out bacteria, was placed over 
the pots. The result was that no bacteria could get in, 
hence, no tubercles were formed, hence, no nitrogen was 
taken up, hence, no thrift in the plant. Nitrogen hunger, 
nitrogen starvation, was nature's answer to the question oi 
the experimenter. 

Pursuing his investigations further, Prof. Helriegel 
found that some pots left uncovered thrived, others did not, 
and none covered with wadding did. The scientific infer- 
ence, therefore, was that whether they throve or not depended 
on whether bacteria found an entrance by chance. Another 
equally clear inference was that the ground where clover, 
beans, peas and other legumes had grown must be full of it. 
This was readily tested by placing soils in which these plants 
had grown in the vessel with water, and after the sedimen i 
had all settled to the bottom, and the water had become clear , 
decanting carefully so as to take nothing but the clear water . 
He then watered the plants that were drooping from nitroge a 
hunger, and straightway every plant thus treated develope d 
tubercles and acquired the power of securing nitrogen, when 
there was none in the soil in which it grew. He then took 
of the same water and sterilized it by boiling to kill all th € 
bacterial life, watered the plants with this, protecting them 
by wadding from accidental bacterial inoculation, and the 
result was that no tubercles were formed, no power to take up 
litrogen was developed and there was no thrifty growth. 

The illustration on the following page will aid the reader 
.n securing a clearer comprehension of what occurs as root 
lubercles are developed in the legumes. It is taken from the 
Lehrbuch der PJlanzenphysiolo^ie, by Dr. A. ' B. Frank, 
professor in the Agricultural High school at Berlin. ^ 

• Figure A in the illustration is a root of the lupine on 
which are several root tubercles. Figure ^9 is a section of a 
root tubercle ; at f is seen the central woody-fibrous co rd 
ind around it, within the root bark, the fleshy parts of the 
Dactcrial tissue. Figure C shows the first stage of infection^ 
which precedes the formation of the tubercles ; ^, <? is the 



CLOVER CULTURE. 



139 




TUBERCLKS ON THK ROOT OF THE SUPINE. 



140 CLOVER CULTURE. 

epidermis beneath which are the root-bark cells ; in the cell t 
the infecting- spore has entered ; in the bark cells lying- next 
beneath, infection has also taken place, and they have thereby 
become filled with a thick, shining- protoplasm, with enlarged 
cell g-erms. This fig-ure is magnified one hundred and 
seventy-five times. Fig-ure Z? is a more advanced stage of 
the development ; / was the point of infection ; beneath, the 
cells of first infection have by a process of cell-division, intro- 
duced g-reater complexity and formed other infecting- cells, 
which are themselves upon the point of further sub-division ;. 
y, r is the root bark ; //, h, h rootlets ; en is the endodermis, 
or inner skin within which lies the fibrous or woody part of 
the root, not shown in the cut. This fig-ure is magnified 
seventy times. Figure ^ is a cross-section of a root with a 
voung- tubercle. By means of a further increase of the 
infected cells the bacterial tissue b has been formed, which at 
w, rti is in process of further development through division ; 
f is the fibrous or woody cord of the root from which run 
branches throug-h the bacterial tissue ; r is the root bark. 
The fig-ure is only slightly mag-nified. Figure F is from 
cells of the bacterial tissue, whose contents are clouded and 
thickened by being- filled with masses of bacteria. The cell 
germs are visible and a few starch granules. The figure is 
magnified 230 times. Figure 6^ is a number of bacteria 
from the cells of F magnified 1090 times. Figure ^ is a 
cluster of the Rhizohinum legtiminosarum^ produced by a 
gelatine culture of the bacteria ; in the center is seen a few of 
the latter within which clusters are visible. At s is seen 
the cluster separated ; at z the zoogloa state composed of a 
cluster that has united. 

At the same time that Prof. Helreigel and others were 
prosecuting these investigations. Prof. W. O. Atwater, then 
of Middletown, Connecticut, was performing the same 
important service for America. In 1881 he instituted a 
series of experiments which were repeated in 1882, and 
brought positive evidence of the acquisition by peas of large 
quantities of nitrogen from the air during their period of 
growth. The investigation was unavoidabl}' interrupted 
until 1885, when four other series of investigations revealed 
large losses of nitrogen during germination and early growth 
in all cases where root tubercles were not formed. The 
results of the experiments of the first series were reported to 
the American Association for the Advancement of Science 
for 1881, and those of the first and second series together 
were reported at the meeting of the British and 
American Association for the Advancement of Science 



CLOVER CULTURE. 14. 

in 1884, and in detail in the American Chemical Journal, 
volume 6, page 365 (February, 1885). The question foi 
■study. in the first series was: Will peas grown under norma) 
conditions acquire any considerable amount of nitrogen free 
or combined from the air? When the subject was resumed 
in 1885, it was to obtain an answer to the two following ques- 
tions : What effect has the addition of soil infusions on the 
formation of root tubercles, and is there any definite relation 
between the quantity and the number of root tubercles and 
the quantity of atmospheric nitrogen obtained by the plant? 
We cannot follow the experiments in detail. Suffice it to say 
that they were conducted with sea sand, thoroughly washed 
and boiled and the methods adopted were almost identical 
with those adopted by the German experimeoiters. They 
covered, as in the German experiments, the cereals as 
well as the legumes, and the conclusions to which Prof. 
Atwater arrived were, that the cereals could not obtain nitro- 
gen from the atmosphere, while the legumes could and did. 
His conclusions may be summed up as follows : That the 
leguminous plants in general are able to secure large quan- 
tities of nitrogen from the air during their period of growth ; 
that there is scarcely room to doubt thai ix^e free nitrogen of 
the air is thus acquired by the plant ; that without root tuber- 
cles there was in no case any large gain of nitrogen, and that 
with them there was uniformly more or less gain, and that 
the greater the abundance and number of root tubercles 
the larger and more vigorous the plants and the greater the 
amount of atmospheric nitrogen acquired. Still further, 
that the connection between the root tubercles and the 
acquisition of nitrogen is: clearly demonstrated, but that the 
relation of the bacteria to the root tubercles and to the 
acquisition of nitrogen, and in general how the nitrogen is 
obtained, are questions yet to be solved. In conclusion Prof. 
Atwater says : 

This subject has a wider significance than what has been said above 
implies. The future welfare of our race, material, intellectual and moral, 
depends upon the food supply, or, in other words, upon the product of the 
soil. This in turn reduces Itself essentially to a question of phosphoric 
acid, potash and nitrogen. Enough of the first two for an indefinite time 
to come is assured in the deposits of phosphates and potash salts already 
discovered, but the probability of a sufficient supply of nitrogen has been 
questioned. This costliest of the fertilizing elements escapes from our 
soils Into the air and into the sea, and is taken away by crops, and not 
completely returned. Artificial fertilizers promise to meet but a small 
fraction of the coming demand. If, as has been urged, the exhaustless 
stores of the atmosphere are not available to plants, the outlook is dark 
enough. But if the farmer may use his crops to gather it, without money 
and without price, we may dismiss our solicitude. With the assurance 



142 CLOVER CULTUKiS 

that plants obtain nitrogen from the air, the fear of staryation for thi 
over-popul Jted earth of the future may be Ignored. That research will 
bring the brighter answer to this problem, there seems to be most excel- 
lent reason to believe.* 

In 1891 we visited the celebrated Experiment Station con- 
ducted by Sir J. B. Lawes, of Rothamstead, England, the 
oldest and in many respects most complete experiment station 
in the world, and found that not only had this distinguished 
experimentor and his scarcely less distinguished assistant, Dr. 
Gilbert, full faith in the capacity of clover and other legumes 
to obtain nitrogen from the atmosphere, but that their experi- 
mental grounds furnished ocular demonstration of the truth of 
this theory. A large number of plots had been sown with the 
clovers, peas, beans, lupines and other legumes, and fertilized 
more or less with nitrogen, while each alternate plot on the 
same kind of soil, to which no nitrogenous fertilizers had been 
applied, was sown with the same plant. In very few cases 
could we detect the slightest difference in the plant, visiting 
them as we did at the period of their greatest luxuriance, 
showing conclusively that though much nitrogen might be 
applied, the legumes found it easier to assimilate the nitrogen . 
in the atmosphere than that in the soil. We found the lead- 
ing scientific agriculturists in Belgium and Scotland holding 
firmly to the same belief, so that the capacity of the legumes 
to supply themselves with nitrogen from the atmosphere is 
not a theory held by a few men here and there, but is now the 
accepted belief of the agricultural world, and is regarded as 
among the very greatest discoveries of the age. 

The results, both scientific and practical, of the above 
investigations demonstrate that clover "receives its nitrogen, 
not from the soil in which it grows, except- in the earlier 
stages, perhaps, but from bacterial action in the tubercles 
found on the root of the clover plant, and that all the legumes, 
such as beans, peas, etc., derive their nitrogen in the same 
way. It leaves, however, the precise method in which the 
bacteria obtain the nitrogen from the only source possible, 
the atmosphere, still unsolved. It, however, explains some 
things which have sorely puzzled practical clover growers 
who never heard of these investigations. It goes far toward 
explaining why it is that when clover is sown on new lands, 
the plants seem to take on a vigorous growth for a week or 
two and then dwindle away and die. This was our experience 
for some years in sowing clover on new lands, both on the 
raw prairie and in cultivated fields, and we have no doubt it 

*A detailed account of Prof. Atwater'e experiments maybe found in the second 
annual report of the Storrs School Experiment Station, Storrs, Connecticut, published 
In 1889. 



CLOVKR CULTURE. 145. 

naa t. a a the <iixperience of many others similarly situatedl. 
Until we becamv_ acquainted with these investigations we had. 
despaired of finding- the solution of the mystery. It explains,, 
also, why occasional plants flourish, especially on portions of' 
the field where the wild legumes grew. If allowed to remain, 
and mature seed, the clover gradually spreads all over the 
field, securing in time a perfect stand. As no subsequent 
trouble was found in seeding these fields, there can be but 
one conclusion, viz., that the bacteria were present only in 
such spots in the field as had grown wild legumes, and that 
they multiplied readily and extended all over the field. We 
might state that recent investigations in Germany have shown 
that it is necessary to inoculate or leaven certain fields or 
portions of fields with the microbe of lupines, a leguminous 
plant. The readiness with which clover grows on gravelly 
points on which nothing but prairie grass ever grew, when 
covered with manure from cattle, and especially horses that 
had been fed on clover hay, suggests that inoculation with 
the microbe is fully as essential as the sowing of clover seed. 
We have felt that it was due to the reader, before closing 
this volume, to state briefly the facts contained in this chap- 
ter, which have been established by the most rigid scientific 
investigation, in order that they may see that in assuming- in. 
almost every chapter of this work that clover is not dependent 
upon the nitrogen of the soil for its growth, we are making 
no bald, unsupported assumption, but one that has been de- 
monstrated with almost mathematical precision, and which is 
nov/ held by scientific men in all countries where science has 
attempted to aid the farmer in his work. 




CLOVER CULTURE-THE WAY OUT. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



If the assumptions of the earlier chapters of this work be 
correct, and the facts stated and the conclusions drawn in the 
previous chapter prove that these are not mere assumptions, 
but demonstrated facts and established verities, clover culture 
becomes a problem of the first magnitude, not only to the 
individual farmer wherever he may be located, but has impor- 
tant bearings on the commercial and financial interests of the 
entire nation. 

If it be true, as the concurrent testimony of the ablest 
and most reliable scientific investigators in the world with 
one voice afl&rm, that the legumes are, to a great extent, inde- 
pendent of soil nitrogen and supply themselves in preference 
from the atmosphere, why should the farmer in the Atlantic 
and Middle states invest his hard-earned dollars in nitrogen 
in the form of nitrates, costing from ten to eighteen cents per 
pound, when he can, through the medium of the tubercles 
on the roots of the legumes, draw on the limitless, inex- 
haustible supply of nitrogen that floats over him daily in the 
atmosphere. The Connecticut Experiment Station estimates 
that no less than half a million dollars are expended annually 
by the farmers of that small, non-agricultural state, for com- 
mercial fertilizers, more than one-third of which'' is for 
nitrogen. > Why this waste ? The market gardener must, 
per force, purchase his nitrogen in the form of nitrates, dried 
blood, -or in some other condensed shape, because he cannot 
wait for the two years which the clover plant requires for its 
perfection. He must have immediate results. Nor can he 
tolerate any vegetable matter in the soil not thoroughly 

(144) 



CLOVER CULTURE. 145 

decomposed. He can use nothing that will interfere with the 
cultivation of the smallest and most delicate plant. It is 
different, however, with the farmer. He can employ a rota- 
tion in which the clovers of some kind form a prominent part 
that will supply him with available forage, and also diversify 
his crop, while storing his soil with the fertility needed in 
the future. Two years ago one of the ablest scientists in 
Europe said to a convention of Scottish farmers, in substance, 
that it was foil)' for them to invest pounds, shillings and 
pence in nitrogen where they could grow clover and other 
legumes. In view of the recent discoveries to which we have 
alluded in the previous chapter, it is high time for some one, 
in whose judgment they have confidence, to tell the eastern 
farmers the same truth. If, for any reason, the clovers 
cannot be grown, other legumes, such as beans and peas, can. 
A soil is poor indeed that will not grow beans, and the fact 
that a comparatively barren soil will grow paying crops of a 
food rich in nitrogen, itself should suggest to the practical 
farmer that when the scientists afl&rm that beans, so rich in 
nitrogen, are largely independent of the soil for their supply, 
they are but confirming the experience of his life-time. In 
fact, the most that scientific investigation has done in recent 
years is to explain the paradox of twenty centuries, viz : That 
the clovers and other legumes, while furnishing a large 
supply of nitrogenous food, at the same time actually increase 
the supply of available nitrogen in the soil. When stated 
as a distinct and separate proposition, it seems incredible. 
When offered as the rational explanation of an agricultural 
paradox, it solves a mystery that has puzzled the student of 
agricultural science for centuries. The eastern farmer who 
has spent large sums annually for nitrogen in the form of 
commercial fertilizers, cannot do a wiser thing than to 
investigate this subject and learn how he cannot only reduce 
the expense of cultivating his land, but successfully under- 
take to restore abandoned lands without beggaring himself to 
purchase nitrogen. Clover culture, however, means far 
more to the western farmer than it does to his co-laborer in 
the Atlantic and Middle states. He has at least two great 
and distinct advantages, his soils are not made up from the 
decomposition of the rocks of the immediate locality. In 
many districts in the eastern states the soil is deposited 
in situ ; that is, it has been formed by the decomposition of 
the rocks lying immediately over or under it. Some of these 
may be rich in potash and poor in phosphoric acid, and others 
rich in the latter but poor in potash. The sub-soils of 
large portions of the western states are the result of glacial 



-146 CLOVER CULTURE. 

action, and are covered by the g-rcat northern drift in which 
the elements derived orig-mally from the primary rocks are so 
"thoroughly comming-led that it is difi&cult to find a soil desti- 
tute of the tviTO g-reat inorganic elements of fertility, potash 
and phosphoric acid. Hence, the important question with 
him is how to obtain a supply of nitrog-en commensurate with 
the supply of potash and phosphoric acid in the soil. He 
has another very great advantage. His soils are not, except 
in rare cases, so far exhausted by long cultivation of their 
potash and phosporic acid that they refuse to grow the 
clovers. They are not, therefore, said to be "clover sick." 
He can proceed to draw on them at once to the limit of their 
supply in nitrogen, because he can count with confidence on 
an abundance of potash and phosphoric acid which are so 
essential to the growth of clover. He has still a third 
advantage, viz : That while many eastern soils heave out 
the clover during the late winter and spring months by purely 
mechanical action, his soil, when properly drained, holds the 
clover plant during the entire period of its natural life. 

If, however, he postpones the use of clover and other 

legumes until his soil is exhausted of its natural supply of 

potash and phosphoric acid by continuous cropping with the 

cereals and grasses that are wholly dependent upon soil nitro- 

■[g-en, his condition will be practically hopeless. He cannot 

rpurchase commercial fertilizers of any kind at present prices 

at the sea-board, paying in addition freights and profits, and 

>then pay freights and profits on his products back to the 

principal markets. When this exhaustion has taken place it 

is too late to grow the legumes, for these are as dependent on 

potash and phosphoric acid as are the cereals on nitrogen. 

When his soil is thus reduced to the condition o'f some of the 

soils of the eastern states, he may as well give up the 

-■struggle. 

The fact, attested by the experience of clover growers in 

:^many thousands of cases, that a good crop of clover roots 

■. adds to the ordinary crop from fifteen to thirty bushels of 

v com per acre the first year, and almost an equal amount the 

second, and to all other crops in a corresponding proportion, 

should teach the western farmer that his soil needs mainly 

nitrogen, or, rather, that his soil is more deficient in nitrogen 

:than in either potash or phosphoric acid. The best way 

.agricultural chemists have found of analyzing a soil is to 

interrogate it with various commercial fertilizers, and find 

from the varying yield, what great element of fertility is 

lacking. The farmer interrogates his separate fields in the 

same way, when, side b}- side with a crop grown on clover 



CLOVER CULTURE. 1+7 

roots, he plants corn, wheat or flax on a similar soil that has 
been cultivated some years and g-ives both plots the same 
culture and care. The almost uniform answer of the soil in 
such cases is, "I am hungry for nitrog-en." If, however, he 
will by the culture of clover and other leg-umes, fill his soil 
with nitrog-en and conserve the potash and phosphoric acid 
by carefull}^ husbanding- the manure made on the farm, he 
can maintain for an indefinite period the fertility of his farm 
and be in a position to meet successfully the inevitable compe- 
tition, whether from his neighbors, his own countrymen or 
the grain growers of the civilized world. The nation that 
can grow the great cereal products and transport them to the 
world's markets at the smallest cost will eventually dictate the 
price of bread. 

It is supreme folly for any man or any class of men to say 
that his lands are inexhaustible. Many times in the history of 
agriculture has that claim been made, and as often have those 
who have made it been brought to confusion by the dire 
event. All that is needed to exhaust the fertility of any soil 
for any cereal crop is to keep on growing that crop year after 
year. It is quite true, as has been affirmed by Sir John B. 
Lawes and other thoroughly scientific investigators, that it 
is not possible to exhaust completely the capacity of any land 
for the production of any one crop provided the soil is good 
to begin with. Nature loves fertility and hoards it as a miser 
does his gold. She parts with it slowly and reluctantly, 
and as soon as she has allowed man to exhaust, it to the 
point where he cannot grow paying crops in competition with 
better soils, and has thus driven him from his land, she at 
once begins the work of soil restoration. 

The strict and accurate truth is that any soil may by con- 
tinuous cultivation in the cereals be so far exhausted of its 
nitrogen or other elements of soil fertility, that the crops 
grown on it are no longer profitable. When it reaches this 
point of exhaustion and the farmer can no longer make a liv- 
ing on his farm, it is for him practically exhausted. What 
we mean, therefore, by soil exhaustion is not the complete 
removal of one or all of the great elements of fertility, but 
the reduction! of any one of them to a point where the soil 
will not produce paying crops. Sir John B. Lawes has for 
nearly forty years grown continuous crops of wheat on the 
same land without manure, equal, even in late years, to the 
average crop of the wheat-growing world, but it has been 
done, by a S3'-stem of thorough tillage, hand-hoeing and weed- 
ing, which if done on a commercial basis would reduce the 
owner to beggary. 



148 CLOVER CULTURE. 

We desire to reiterate what has been said in preceding 
chapters, that the most complete exhaustion of the soil, para- 
doxical as it may seem, may be accomplished by the use of the 
clovers. If by supplying- nitrog-en in the clovers and continu- 
ally drawing- on the potash and phosphoric acid, which the 
clovers do so larg-ely, the farmer practically exhausts the land 
of these, he must then either resort to expensive commercial 
fertilizers or throw his land into the hands of mother Nature 
to nurse it back throug-h long years, or it may be centuries, 
to the condition to which as a foolish and unskillful cultivatoi 
he has found it a fit subject for his robberies. 

The Western farmer has now reached a point where, 
willing- or not, he must elect to do one of three thing-s : 1. 
Continue his present robbery of the soil by continuous grow- 
ing- of g-rain for sale in the world's markets and thus selling 
his land by piece-meal. 2. He may by supplying- nitrog-en in 
the clovers and returning- nothing in the form of manure rob 
it more completely and reduce it to a more hopeless barren- 
ness. 3. He may draw on the winds of heaven by means of 
the miracle-working tubercle in the roots of the clovers, and 
then by the judicious use of the manure made on the farm in 
various ways restore the potash and phosphoric acid, trusting 
to the gradual disinteg-ration of the rocks of which the soil is 
composed to keep up indefinitely their supply. 

The folly of the first course is as supreme as it is con- 
spicuous. The farms all over the West that have been rented 
on one-year leases to croppers attest that folly so completely 
that he "may run that readeth it," and "the way-faring- man, 
thoug-h a fool, need not err therein." Heretofore millions of 
the best acres in the West have been cultivated by farmers 
who confessed themselves pilg-rims and strangers, and like 
Abraham of old, though in a far different sense, said they 
were seeking a better country and would find it as soon as 
they had, to use their own expression, "skinned" or "taken 
off the cream" from the lands they occupied. These are the 
soil robbers who plant neither orchards nor groves, around 
whose homes are no flowers, on whose porches are no vines 
to shade their wives from the summer's sun, and who expect 
as soon as their robberies are completed to find in the farthei 
West another piece of virgin land to despoil. It is time foi 
this class of farmers to understand that the limit of the corn 
lands of America has been definitely marked out, as fixed by 
their Creator; that these lands are all out of the possession ol 
the Government and are nearly all in cultivation, and thai 
while there is a large amount of wheat lands as yet untouched 
by the plow, they are in capricious and uncertain climates, 



CLOVER CULTURE. 149 

subject to the vicissitudes of doubtful rainfall, hot winds and 
destroying- insects, or else yield up their natural fertility only 
by irrigation. Capitalists can no long-er buy the finest landa 
in townships and counties, rob them of their fertility by con- 
tinuous wheat g-rowing- on the bonanza plan, and find in the 
newer West fresh lands to impoverish. The migration of 
these bonanza farmers westward must now cease. A farmer 
who wishes a permanent home for himself and a heritage for 
liis children must buy it soon. The tabernacle of the wilder- 
ness must give place to the permanent structure in a land not 
divided by lot but selected by purchase. The soil robber must 
henceforth be content with robbing himself and wasting in 
advance the patrimony of his children. 

If, however, he makes the second election and sees in the 
recent discoveries of agricultural science an opportunity by 
clover culture to rob his lands more completely than before, 
by selling in a distant market the elements of fertility in his 
land, he should know that in this way he will reduce his land 
to a degree of barrenness impossible under former conditions. 
He may by clover culture become thus penny wise and pound 
foolish. He may adopt the specious though fallacious maxim 
that "tillage is manure," without stopping to think that im- 
proved tillage by increasing the yield will onlyr the more 
speedily exhaust, by the magnitude of the crops which it fur- 
nishes, the fertility of the land. He may draw upon the great 
bank, the atmosphere, for his supply of nitrogen, and if his 
drafts be properly drawn, signed and sealed by the clover-root 
tubercle, they will not go to protest, but when he draws upon 
the soil for potash and phosphoric acid, he will get the quick 
response, "Protested — no funds." Every farmer owes it to 
those who are to bear his name, to leave the acres that have 
fed him, richer if possible than he received them from the 
hand of Nature or a previous purchaser, or if he fails to do so, 
he cannot with truth have the honorable title of "a good 
farmer" engraved on the marble that is intended to perpetuate 
his memory. 

The only wise choice is the third one above mentioned, 
viz., to grow clover, feed stock, husband carefully the farm- 
yard manure and restore it to the land without waste. He 
must necessarily dispose by the sale of his live stock and grain 
of more or less of the great elements of fertility. ^ Nature, 
however, is ever struggling to maintain it by the gradual 
decomposition of rock material of which the soil was first 
formed, and if he works with her he will be entitled to a 
well earned reputation for agricultural wisdom. If better 
methods of tillage hasten the decomposition of the primary 



150 CLOVKK CULTURE. 

rock, it only increases his supply of home-made fertilizers by 
the careful" husbanding- and diligent application of which he 
is ever restoring- to the land its own. The iuture prosperity 
of tlio Western farmer depends, more than on anything- else, 
on whether he elects the part of wisdom, and the prosperity of 
any section or of any community depends upon the number of 
farmers who make this choice. 

It cannot have escaped the attention of thoughtful stu- 
dents of agriculture that in any country that is really pros- 
perous for any great length of time the farmers have settled 
down to a system of mixed grain and stock growing and the 
cultivation of the tame g-rasses that are so essential to success 
in this line. The ranch system so long dependent wholly on 
the wild g-rasscs may endure for a time, or as long- as these 
g-rasses are abundant and free to all, so to speak, "without 
money and without price," but it should be noted that even 
the ranchman is turning to alfalfa. Nor should it escape the 
notice of the thoughtful that among the grasses that form 
these cultivated pastures the legumes have always had an 
important place, and that the failure of clover in any nation 
except as part of a long rotation has always been regarded as 
a great calamity. 

Circumstances will compel the Western farmer to adopt 
the same methods. He has, however, a great advantage over 
all the farmers that were before him. They grew the clovers 
because they found by experience that they increased the value 
of all subsequent crops, but did not know how or wh}-. Their 
farming was on the principle of "cut and try." The modern 
farmer is now in the position of the tailor who has a rule by 
which he can cut and be reasonably sure of a fairly good fit. 
He knows, or at least may know, that by the use of clover he 
can store up nitrogen in his soil for a crop of wheat, corn or 
flax following. He knows what plants can obtain nitrogen 
from the atmosphere and what can not, why timothy always 
does well after clover, why blue grass flourishes with white 
clover as a growing mate, and can thus plan his rotations and 
his seed mixtures with intelligent foresight, as a painter 
mixes his paints and plans his work, knowing beforehand 
very nearly what will be the result. • 

The Western farmer has been placed for many years in a 
peculiarly trying position, and that largely through no fault 
of his own.-* In the last thirty years a vast empire has been 
opened up west of the Missouri. Its fabulous wealth has 
been advertised over Europe and America by railroads inter- 
ested in its settlement. Population has rushed in, fully im- 
bued with the idea that unlimited acres of inexhaustible 



CLOVER CULTURE. 15J 

fertility were to be had for a song-. Payments for the land^ 
for the improvements and for living- expenses had to be made 
from crops of ready sale at cash prices in the world's markets. 
These bulky products had to be hauled from five hundred to 
seven hundred miles to the nearest water line and from a 
thousand to fifteen hundred miles to the seaboard, and that, 
too, as soon as gathered. Paradoxical as it may seem, the 
pioneer farmer as a rule has not been able to build g-ranaries 
to store the products of his land. The result has been two- 
fold — exclusive grain farming- in necessary violation of the 
well established principles of successful ag-riculture the world 
over, and the glutting- of the markets of the world with cereals 
to an extent that has produced acute and severe distress 
among g-rain farmers everywhere. A cry of distress, both in 
years of shortag-e and abundance, has been heard in every 
part of the United States in which the improved g-rasses have 
not been contiguous to the grain and cotton field. Mean- 
while the American farmer, by reason of his fertile soil, im- 
proved machinery and skilled agricultural labor, is crowding 
the British, the Russian and the Hindoo farmer to the wall, 
and while suffering himself, is inflicting more severe suffering 
on farmers in other parts of the world under less favorable 
conditions. 

We have outlined these existing conditions, not to make 
the broad claim that clover culture is the panacea for all the 
ills to which agricultural flesh is h^r, but to show that the 
evils of a false system can be remedied only by a return to a 
correct one, and this cannot be done successfully without the 
introduction of the legumes, and especially of the clovers. 
What the American farmer needs at present is something 
that will enable him to maintain cheaply the fertility of his 
soil, especially in nitrogen, the most costly and at the same 
time the least stable, of all the elements of fertility in all 
soils. The potash and phosphoric acid will remain locked up 
in various soil compounds until it is needed by the plant, but 
the nitrogenous compounds, as soon as converted into nitrates, 
the form in which they are assimilated by plants, are liable 
to be washed out by rains. He needs a system of farming 
which will enable him to condense his freights by feeding his 
products on the farm, and shipping them in the form of live 
stock, butter, cheese and wool, and he needs besides a home- 
grown forage, rich in nitrogen or albuminoids that' will 
enable him to use to the best advantage the carbonaceous 
food products which exist in such super- abundance in the 
West. In this lies the "way out" for the western farmer. 
We do not by any means afl&rm that he is not suffering from 



152 CLOVER CULTURE. 

other evils. We know, for example, that he pays more than 
his proper share of taxes ; that he is the victim of trusts and 
combines, and that in many localities he is compelled to pay 
exorbitant freights and excessive rates of interest. We do 
mean to say, however, that where a system of agriculture has 
been adopted for any great length of time, these evils diminish 
in their intensity or disappear altogether. In fact, it is the 
one-sided system of agriculture adopted in many parts of the 
West that has rendered it possible to form some combinations 
and extort usurious rates of interest. In this correct system 
of agriculture wherever established, the tame grasses must 
form an essential and indispensible part, and chief among 
these grasses will always be found the legumes, and especially 
the clovers. 

The "way out," if it be a main travelled road leading to 
the city of refuge and not a by-path leading into the forest or 
a morass, must provide for retaining soil fertility and 
especially nitrogen. As we have before shown, there is no 
present way by which that can be done effectively and at the 
same time economically except by the intelligent use of the 
legumes. Theorists may speculate as they please, but when 
the available fertility of any soil, whether of the farm or the 
district, is so far exhausted that it will not produce paying 
crops, as it will be in time by continuous cultivation of the 
non-leguminous plants, it matters very little what political 
party is in power, or what the rate of taxation or transpor- 
tation, or what kind of currency may be in use. The "way 
out " for the western farmer that does not provide for the 
conservation of nitrogen and its increase, at least to the 
measure of the supply of the other elements o^ the fertility in 
the soil, will lead him into worse trouble than he complains 
of now. It is for the reason that it furnishes the farmer 
with clear, definite and precise information on a matter of the 
first importance that we regard the discoveries of Helreigel, 
Wilfarth and Atwater as among the greatest of the present 
age. If this important element of fertility cannot, by reason 
«f deficient rainfall or some other climatic or soil conditions, 
be furnished by the red and mammoth clovers, then resort 
must be had to alfalfa, and where this cannot be grown, the 
supply of nitrogen must be secured by the use of some other 
legume. The " way out " must be sown with legumes. , 

It is not enough, however, to have a supply of fertility in 
the soil. There must be some way of using to advantage 
the products furnished by this raw material provided by 
nature and husbanded by man. No country ever became 
permanently rich which was burdened with the trasportation 



CLOVER CULTURE. 155 

of crude products to a consumer from a thousand to five 
thousand miles distant. It matters little how cheap freig-ht 
rates may be, for the obvious reason that competitors are 
likely to have them as cheap. Freig-ht rates by rail can be 
reduced about as much in one part of the world as in the other, 
for the reason that the reduction is the result of inventions in 
which the whole world shares. Water freig-hts are prac- 
tically equal with each other, and, hence, it is not the cost of 
freight, but the fact that freight must be paid, and that, too^ 
by the farmer, that makes hard times in any country that 
must find a customer for its bulky or heavy products in a far- 
distant market. The " way out " must, therefore, suggest a 
method by which the farmer can convert these bulky products 
into some more compact and available form. The introduc- 
tion of the clovers and other cultivated grasses at once reduces 
the acreage of the cereals and paves the way for successful 
stock growing, which, in turn, furnishes a means for con- 
densing freights. 

It requires no prophet to forsee what would be the imme- 
diate result if half the lands now in cereals in Kansas, 
Nebraska and southern Dakota were successfully sown to 
clovers next year. There would be an immediate, though 
temporary reduction in the yield of cereals which would at 
once be felt in prices, demand for improved stock to suit the 
improved conditions, and a decrease in the amount of freights 
furnished the railroads. It is quite true that a large amount 
of the corn grown in these states is condensed by feeding to^ 
stock brought in from the ranges. This system, however 
convenient or profitable it may be for the time, leads surely 
and speedily to the soil exhaustion of these states. The 
feeding is done on comparatively few farms and by men who 
are feeders rather than farmers, and thus a few acres are 
^nriched at the expense of the many. When farmers in these 
states adopt the method of farming half the land and seeding 
the remainder to tame grasses, where these can be grown, 
they will be able not only to maintain the fertility of their 
soil, but place themselves in the position which farmers the 
world over occupy, wherever agriculture is permanently pros- 
perous. 

Nor are we advocating any new or untried policy. Corn 
is grown in nearly every state in the Union, and yet there are 
but seven corn surplus states, or states that grow an amount 
beyond their home requirements, and the surplus pro- 
duced by two of these is comparatively small. This policy 
has been largely adopted in all the states east of the Missouri. 
As the sfrasses and leofumes travel westward, elevator 



154 CLOVER CULTURE. 

properties on the lines of the railroads leading" to the greal 
grain markets first decrease in value, then stand empty and 
finally are burned up or torn down. 

The progress of clover and g^rass culture may be noted 
€ven in the political discussions, and especially those that 
grow out of agricultural discontent. These discussions move 
west with the tame grasses. The granger legislation of 1873 
affected Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, while that 
of 1889 affected only, to any great extent, the states west of 
the Missouri and south of the Ohio rivers, or, in other words, 
the grain and cotton growing as distinguised from the grass 
growing states. No less significant is the fact that the 
so-called granger legislation of Iowa in 1884-88 had for its 
object, not the cheapening of rates on crude products, but the 
cheaper distribution of its own products within that state. 

It will be seen that the culture of the clovers and other 
grasses is far reaching in its consequences. In urging it as 
we do, we are on main traveled roads. We point to the expe- 
rience of all farmers in all countries for the last hundred 
years ; we point to the fact that where once introduced it has 
never been abandoned, until the soil refused to grow clover ; 
we point to the fact that where it is once established, land uni- 
formly advances in price, and the rate of interest as uniformly 
falls ; we point to the fact that where it is once established 
diversification of industry naturally follows. For example, 
the great dairy interest is confined almost wholly to the regions 
where the clovers and other tame grasses have proved a suc- 
cess. Creameries have been built by the score in advance of 
the grass and clovers, and only in rare instances have they 
succeeded beyond the white, red and crimson, of the clover 
fields. While it is true that there is a natural limit to the 
tame grass belt, it is also true, and we call attention to the 
well known fact, that the clovers have a wider Western range 
than any of the other cultivated grasses, and, as we have 
already shown, where clover ends, alfalfa begins. Where, by 
reason of the unsuitable subsoil, it is impossible to grow 
alfalfa, other legumes, such, for instance, as the soy^ bean, 
will be found to take its place. The necessity of the intro- 
duction of some legume that will supply the place of the 
clovers and alfalfa in semi-arid regions is so urgent, or will 
be in a few years, that every clime will be searched by enter- 
prising farmers and experiment stations to find something 
that will meet the want. The right plant will be found when 
it is needed, just as the right man appears in every great 
■crisis of a nation. 

Again, any "way out," especially for the Western farmer, 



CLOVER CULTURE. 155 

must provide some method for utilizing- the great surplus oi 
carbonaceous food products that exists on his farm. Western 
states have a very great surplus of this carbonaceous food. 
Corn, their great crop, is highly carbonaceous, and straw, 
cornstalks and sorghum still more so, and the ordinary tame 
grasses, outside of the clovers, scarcely less. No one of these^ 
nor all of them together, can be fed exclusively to young and 
growing stock, or to milk cows, without great waste of the 
food. The young grasses alone furnish a balanced ration,, 
but only for a brief period or the year. 

The continuous waste i-hat goes on for eight months in 
the year becomes so enormous that no section can compete 
with other sections ble«sed with albuminoids with which to 
balance up rations. Oats is about the only stock grain that 
in itself comes near being a balanced ration, and in default of 
the legumes farmers are compelled to use oil meal, cotton-seed 
meal and wheat bran in order to feed their carbonaceous 
rations without waste. The clovers come in to meet the 
requirements with nitrogenous compounds, drawn not from 
the soil beneath, but from the air above, and not only store 
nitrogen in the soil by means of their roots, but in the form 
of hay and pasture supply this much-needed want. Eastern 
farmers who travel through Western Kansas and Nebraska 
and Dakota and other wheat-growing sections and see the 
great mass of straw given to the flames each year are accus- 
tomed to declaim against the thriftlessness of the Western 
farmer. He is at least as wise as they, for experience has 
taught him that cattle will eat themselves poor by trying to 
live on this carbonaceous food, and that for him its main 
value is in its ash, which he therefore distributes as wisely as 
possible by heading his wheat and burning his straw. If, 
however, he can grow clover or alfalfa to balance up this 
excessively carbonaceous food, the straw becomes at once a 
rr.ine of wealth. 

English wheat growers are this year, in many cases, get- 
ting more for their straw per acre than for their wheat, for 
the reason that they can use it economically and without com- 
petition, whereas in the growth of grain they are compelled 
to compete with the whole world. 

In the arid regions of the plains, the mountains or the 
Pacific coast, the word alfalfa has a charm second only to 
gold and silver, because it furnishes in the form of hay a 
ration that improves or balances up every other forage with 
which it is fed. As the subject of feeding rations become? 
better understood through the greater number of analyses of 
western grains and grasses and carefully conducted experi- 



156 CLOVER CULTURE. 

tnents with balanced rations, the legumes will be rated at a 
much hig-her value than they have been in times past. Stock 
growers will even find that it will pay them to grow the 
legumes solely as a means of stopping the great waste that is 
now going on by the enforced use of rations too highly carbo- 
naceous to meet the wants of the animal economy. 

A system of farming that will at once conserve and 
increase the fertility of the soils of the West, that will, by 
diminishing the amount of the acreage in cereals and increas- 
ing that of the grasses, reduce the cost of labor fifty per cent., 
and that will stop the waste of foods now going on, will at 
least indicate the "way out" that can be followed with safety 
and profit. The extended use of the clovers and other legumes 
will provide such a system, and for this reason we urge it 
upon the attention of every farmer. Other nations and the 
majority of our states have already adopted such systems, 
ignorant of the recent discoveries that have made the way 
plain, safe and easy. It devolves upon the Western farmer 
to say whether he will be guided at once by the experience of 
practical farmers in the past and by the light that science has 
shed upon the subject, or whether he will continue to waste 
the fertility of the richest heritage that Providence has ever 
bestowed upon a people, and reduce to comparative barren- 
ness the fairest land on which the sun shines. 



FINIS. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Pass. 

Prbfaci B 

CHAPTER I. 

Clovers and Other Grasses— Clovers not True Grasses, but Members of the Pulse Fam- 
ily—True Grasses Defined— Difference between Them and the Clovers in Root 
Growth— Relation of the Clovers to Soil Fertility— Their Relation to Improved 
Agriculture — Their Power to Supply Other Crops with Nitrogen— Their Ability to 
Draw Nitrogen from the Atmosphere — Their Importance in Feeding Rations T 

CHAPTER II. 

Dlstributiou of the Clovers— The Economic Importance of the Legumes— The Main 
Source of Supply of Soil Nitrogen— Animal Nitrogen Dependent on Soil Nitrogen 
—Some Variety of the Legumes Adapted to Every Soil Capable of Supporting 
Life— Leading Varieties of Clover— Range of the Common Red and Mammoth— 
Their Peculiar Adaptation to the Drift Soils of the West— Their Probable Western 
Limit— Range of the White, Alsike and Crimson Clovers and Alfalfa Ifr 

CHAPTER III. 

Red and Mammoth Clovers— Their Relation to Soil Fertility in the West— Their His- 
tory—The Five Essentials of Plant Life— These Clovers Do Well on Compara- 
tively Barren Soils— Reproduce Themselves Indefinitely in the West by Self- 
Seeding— Best Methods of Seeding in Fall and Spring— Depth of Covering Re- 
quired—Experiment at the Iowa Experiment Station— Modern Methods of Cov- 
ering in the Western States — Conditions under Which One or the Other Should 
Be Preferred- Mammoth Preferred Where Insect Enemies Are Abundant— Illus- 
trations of Red and Mammoth Clovers 2* 

CHAPTER IV. 

Alfalfa— Its Climatic Range, History and Travels— Its DiflFerent Names in Different 
Countries— Its Specific Purpose a Meadow and a Forage Plant— Its Adaptation to 
Particular Soils— Its Two Leading Uses— Its Peculiar Adaptation to the Mountains 
and Plains- Its Use in the Semi-Arid Regions as a Substitute for Clover as Dis- 
cussed by Prof. Georgeson- Prof. C. L. IngersoU on Alfalf* under Irrigation 44 

CHAPTER V. 

White and Alsike Clover— Difference between White and Other Clovers— Its History— 
Its Place in the Permanent Pasture— Its Faults— History of Alsike or Swedish 
Clover— Its Peculiar Adaptation to Wet Lands— Best Methods of Sowing— Its 
Value as a Honey Plant ^ 

CHAPTER VI. 

Minor Vareties of Clovers— Sweet Clover, Where Valuable— Scarlet or Crimson Clo- 
ver-Its Climatic Range and Value— Climatic Range of Japan Clover and Its 
Great Viilue to the Southern Farmer— Value of the Bur Clover to the California 
Farmer— Description of Various Native Varieties, with Illustrations 68 



CLOVER CULTURE. 

CHAPTER VII. 

Practical Clover Growing— Selection of Varieties for Different Localities— The Ob- 
ject In View in Growing Clovers— Mixtures With Other Grasses— Mixturea for 
Different Rotations— Clover S'ckness— Nurse Crops— Western Limit of the Clovers 
—Method of Seeding on Wet Lands 78 

CHAPTER VIIL 

Curing Clover Hay— Water Content of Green Clover— Iowa Agricultural College Ex- 
periments—The Problem Stated— Clover Hay-making East and West— Capacity 
of Clover to Evaporate and Absorb Moisture— Most Approved Western Methods 
—Damage to Clover Hay in Stack— Value of the Tedder— Numerous Examples of 
Spontaneous Combustion— Views of Profs. Sanborn and Burrell 90 

CHAPTER IX. 

Clovers in the Rotation— Importance of Rotations— Distinct Features- Clovers as 
a Cleaning Crop—Their Value in Supplying Nitrogen— Rotations suggested for 
different sections iW 

CHAPTER X. 

Clover in Feeding Rations— Elementary Principles — Necessity for Balanced Rations 
—Peculiar Need of an Albuminoid Crop in the West— Feeding Tables — Analyses 
of Non-leguminous Grains and Grasses— Analyses of the Legumes— Examples of 
the use of Clover and Clover Hay in Balancing Rations 106 

CHAl'TER Xl. 

(Insect and Other l^uemies— The Clover Leaf Midge— The Clover Root Borer— Flave- 
scent Clover Weevil— The Clover Stem Borer— The Clover Leaf Beetle— The 
Clover Leaf Hopper— The Clover Hay Worm, with Illustrations— The Clover 
Rust— The Violet Root Fungus— Dodder, with Illustration 120 

CHAPTER XII. 

/ 
Clover Seed and its Insect Enemi<^s— Necessary Conditions for a Crop of Clover Seed 
—Prof. L. II. Paromel on. Pollination of Clover- Description of tne Red Clover 
Blossom, with Illustration- Best Jtethod of Harvesting Clove* Seed— Illustrations 
and Description of Clover Seed Midge— Methods of Combatting It— Its parasites 
—Illustration and Description of Clover Seed Caterpillar— Remedies Recom- 
mended / 182 

CHAPTER XIII. 

dover Root Tubercle— Pacts Assumed in Previous Chapters— Former Suppositious 
as to how Clover Obtained Nitrogen— Description of Clover Root Tubercles- 
Prof. Hellriegel's Experiments and Dcmonstratioaof two Important Facts— Illus- 
tration of Tubercles with Description— Prof. Atwatea's Experiments and Con- 
clusion— Conciu'ion of Sir J. B. Lawes-Practical Bearings of the Discovery on 
Western Agriculture 14S 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Clover Culture the Way Out— Clover Culture a Problem of the First Magnitude— 
Pi»rchase of Nitrates by the General Farmer Useless— A Solution of the Agricul- 
tural Paradox— Advantages of the Western Farmer over the Eastern— Western 
Soils may be Exhausted as well as Fertilized by Clover Culture— When Lands are 
Practically Exhausted— Western Farmers Must Elect to do One of Three Things 
—The only Wise Choice— Trying Position of tlie Western Farmer— Clover Cul- 
ture Indicates the Way Out by Restoring Fertility, by Condensing Freights and 
by Checking Waste of Carbonaceo\is P'eed— Effects of Clover on Legislation— On 
the Dairy Industry- Will the Western Farmer Adopt It? 15« 



INDEX. 



Alfalfa— Length of roots, 4; its distribu- 
tion, 14, 15; origin and history, 30-41; il- 
lustration of, 31; peculiarly a hay and 
forage crop, S2; conditions under which 
its cultivation is profitable, 32, 33: cul- 
t'lre under irrigation, 33; yield of hay 
per acre, 33 34; number of' cuttings per 
annum, .33, 34. 42: amount of seed sown 
per ac-e. 34, .38, 42; English method of 
culture, 34; when possible in rotation, 
35; where it can be substituted for red 
clover, 35; Prof. Georgeson on its culture 
without irrigation, 36, 40; as a pasture 
grass, 37; seeding of on prairie grass, 37; 
cannot be grown on certain soils, 37: 
preparation of seed bed without irriga- 
tion, 37, 38; method of curing, 38, 44: 
best method of storing, 38; when seed 
should be taken, 38; yield of seed per 
acre, 38; price of seed per bushel, 38; nu- 
tritive value compared with red clover, 
39; its disadvantages, 39,40; Prof. Irger- 
Boll on, 41,44; preparation of seed bed 
with irrigation, 42; method of irrigation, 

■ 42, 43; chemical composition of, 43; 
where valuable in Nebraska, 44 ; where a 
8ubsti'ut« for other clovers, 76, 77; as a 
balance in feeding ra'ions, 106; for young 
colts, 106; balances all grain rations, 155. 

Alsike— Its distribution, 14; origin of, 49! 
specially adapted to sloughs and othe' 
wet lands, 49, 51,77; illustration of, 50i 
habit of growth as compared with red, 
mammoth and white, 51, 52; method of 
seeding on sloughs and wet lands in 
grass, 52; climatic range of, F2, 53; value 
as bee pasture, 53; in permanent pasture, 
74. 

Atwater, Prof. O. W.— Investigations in 
relation to the tubercles of the legumes, 
140. 

Blue Grass— In permanent pasture, 74; on 
wild prairie, 75. 

Bumble Gees— As pollinators of red clo- 
ver, 122, 125; two varieties of, 123. 

Bur Clover— Distribution of, 11; climatic 
range of, 60; value as sheep pasture, 60; 
peculiar relation to alfllaria, 60; a native 
variety in Nebraska, 60. 

Carbohydrates — Great excess of in West- 
ern states, 100; prop'^rtion of proper for 
various uses, 101; proportion found in 
non-leguminous grains and fodders, 102; 
proportion found in various legume8,102. 

Carbon, its place in animal economy, 9. 

Clover Culture— Its importance to the in- 
dividual farmer and to the nation, 144; 
advantageous to farmers both East and 



West, 145, 150; its effect on succeeding 
corn crops, 140; maintenance of indefi- 
nite fertility possible with, 147, 148, 149; 
may itself exhaust soilp, 148, 149: effect 
of its westward extension, 153; effect on 

fiolitic'ldis'^ussions. 1.54; never willing- 
y abandoned when once introduced, 154. 

Clover Flower— Anatomy of, 122, 124; illus- 
tracion of, 124. 

Clover Hay— Analyses of, 79; moisture m, 
79, 80: difference in curing, East and 
West, 80, 8i ; differences in feeding value, 
81 ; its capacity to absorb and evaporate 
n\oisture, 81, 82; best practical method of 
making, 83, 85; »verage per cent, of dam- 
age in stack, 85; spontaneous combus- 
tion of, 85, 90. 

Clover rupt, 116. 

Clovers— Distinct in form from true grass- 
es, 3; general habii of root growth, 3, 4; 
their peculiar relation to soil fertili'y, 4, 
5, 6; effect of their iutroducti'^n into 
England, 5: » helpmeet to the true grass- 
es, 5, 6; distinct from true grasses in 
function, 6; number of native species, 
10; why they succeed on poor soils, 18; 
seeding on prairie lands without cover- 
ing, 20; circuirstances under which red 
or mammoth should be preferred, 24, 25, 
26; red and mammoth, scientific classifi- 
cation of, 25; selection of variety de- 
pends upon object in view, 69, 70; mix- 
tures to be sown, 70, 75; mixtures to b« 
avoided, 70,71; mixture for two years' 
rotation, 72; how retained in permanent 
pastures, 75; western limit of, 76, 77; an- 
alyses of at different Ftages of growth, 
79; as a cleaning crop, 93; place in feed- 
ing rations, 98, 106; how used to balance 
rations. 103, 1C6; their use in CDnnection 
with corn stalks, 103, 104; use in combi- 
nation wiih straw, 105, 106; use in com- 
bination with ordi-^ary farm feel stuffs. 
106: preferable to expensive commercial 
fertilizers, 144; neccssarj' to correct the 
evils of continued grain cropping, 151; 
essent al to a correct system of agricul- 
tu'e, 152; western range of, 154. 

Clover Seed— Conditions of germination, 
19; depth of covering required, 19,22; 
surface-sown on winter wheat, how cov- 
ered, 20; different depths, Iowa Exper - 
ment Station report, 22; sown on spring 
grains, 22; yield per acre, 27; insect ene- 
mies of, 121; management of crop, 125, 
126. 

Clovpr-seed Caterpillar— Life History of, 
131, 132; remedies for, 132; parasites of, 
132. 



CLOVER CULTURE. 



C'over-Beed Midge— Illustrations of, 127, 
128; history of, 128; description of, 128, 
129; methods of combating, 129, 130; ex- 
ported to Eng'and in seed, 130; parasites 
of, 130, 131. 
Clover sickness, 73. 
Commercial fertilizers, annual cost of in 

Connecticut, 144. 
Comstock, Prof , report on clover-stem 

borer, 111. 
Cook, Prof.— Description of clover stem 
borer. Ill; report on clover-leaf beetle, 
111, 112; descnpti^'n of clover-hay worm, 
115; experiment on ferti'ization of clo- 
ver, 122. 
Corn, why It succeeds best on clover sod, 

74. 
Corn land, limit of reached, 148. 
Corn-r">ot worm, opera ions of, 92. 
Corn-surp'us states, 153, 154. 
Crimson Clover— Its distribution, 11, 15; 
habit of growth, 56: yield of hay per 
acre, 56; where profita»^le, 56, 58; illus- 
tration of, 57; amount of seed required 
per acre, 58. 
Darwin, Charles, experiment on pollina- 
I tlon of clovers, 122. 

■Digestible nutrients in non-leguminous 
grains and fodders, 102; in clovers and 
other legumes, 102. 
Dodder— Clover, 117, 120; in clover seed, 
119; districts infested with, 120; varieties 
of, 120; new variety attacking clover, 
120: illustration, 118. 
Farmers— Modern, peculiar advantages of, 
150; peculiar position in the West, 150, 
151. 
Feeding Rations— Elementary principles 
relating to, 98, 99, 100; examples of bal- 
anced rations, 99, 100; table for calculat- 
ing, 101; various uses of clover in, 1C4, 
105, 106: use of alfalfa in, 106. 
Fertility— Exhaustion of, 9^: essential ple- 
ments of, 17, 18, 91: how readily exhaust- 
ed, 74. 
Flax, ancient reputation nsasoil robber, 4. 
Fungus, violet root, 116, 117. 
Geary, George, experiment in deep cover- 
ing of clover, 23, 24. 
Georgeson, Prof. C. C, on alfalfa without 

irrigation, 38, 40. 
German feeding tables, 101. 
Grasses— Definition of, 3; tame, with and 
without a nurse cro^, 76; for wet lands, 
77, 78; young, furnish a balanced ration, 
155. 
Grass Mirtures— For fertility alone, 71; 
for short rotations, 72; for sowing with 
spring grains, 74; for perminent pss- 
tures, 74; for sowing on wild prairie, 75. 
Hay caps, use in hay making, 80. 
Hay shed, cost of, 85. 

Hellriegel, Prof., experiment with the le- 
gumes, 1,"4, 138. 
Honey bees as fer ilizers for red and mam- 
moth clovers, 123. 
IngersoU, Prof. C. L., on alfalfa under 

irrigation, 41, 44. 
Insect Pests— Working on clover, 107, 116: 
number of, working on clover, 107; clo- 
ver-leaf midge, 107, 108; clover- root bo'-er, 
108, 109; flavescen* clover weevil, 109, 111 ; 
clover-stem borer, 111; clover- eaf beetle, 
111, 118; clover-leaf hopper, 113, J14; 
clover-hay worm, 114, 115. 



Insects as pollinatorfl of clover. 121, 123. 
Iowa Experiment Station, experlme-» 

with clover seed, 22. 
Japan Closer- Its distribution, 11; history 
o', 58; the soil renovator of the South. 
68; climatic range, 58; its value to the 
Southern farmer, 68, 60; illustration of, 
59. 
Large-headed Clover— Des'-ription of, 61, 
62; climatic range of, 61, 62; Illustration 
of, 65. 
Lawes, Sir J. B., investigations of tuber- 
cles on roots of legumes, 142. 
Legumes— Leading varieties of, 3, 10; num- 
ber of known sppcies, 3; wider^ngeof 
usefulnes, 3; Virgil on, 4; Virgil's di- 
rections for sowing, 4: universil distri- 
bution, 10; necessary to correct the evils 
of continued grain cropping, 151; essen- 
tial to a correct system of agriculture, 
152. 
Lintner, Prof.— Rep-^rt on the number of 
clover pests, 107, 1C8; on flavescent clover 
weevil, 110: description of clover-leaf 
beetle, 112, 113. 
Mammoth Clover— Its distribution, 11, 12, 
13; yield per acre, 27; illustration of, 29; 
when to be sown alone, 70, 71; crop of 
seed per acre, 71 : iu permanent pasture, 
74; management of for seed, 125. 
Nitrogen — Its abundance in nature, 8; 
siurces of supply, 9; it** function in sup- 
porting animal life, 9, 99; waste of dur- 
ing summer months, 92; supplied by the 
clovers, 92; how obtained by clovers, 
133, 131. 
Oats, only commonly cultivated cereal 

furnishing a balanced ration, 155. 
Orchard Grass— When to be sown with 
clover, 7.;, 73; reasons for sowing with- 
clover, 73; orchard grass in permanent 
pasture, 74. 
Osborn, Prof.— Report on flavescent-clo- 
ver weevil, 110; life history of clover- 
leaf hopper, 113,114. 
Pammel, Prof.— Report on clover rust, 

110; on pollination of Howers, 121, 123. 
Permanent Past u'-e— Relation of clover* 

to, 48, 49; grass mixtures lor, 74. 
Phosphoric acid, not liable to be washed 

out of the soil by rains, 151. 
Plant life, five essentials of, 17. 
Pollination of clovers by insects, 121, 123; 
self-pollina'ion of red clover, 122; by 
bumble bees, 122, 125. 
Polish- Its p'ace in animal economy, 9; 
not liable to be washed out of the soil by 
rains, 151. 
Prairie, wild, how best seeded to tame 

grasses, 75, 76. 
Red Clover— Its distribution, 11, 12, 13; 
how distinguished from' mammoth, 11, 
25; on what its Feed crop depends, 12; 
date of introduction into England, 16; 
early methods of cultivation, 16, 17; it» 
relation to insect rests, 26; illustration 
of, 28; nutritive value as compared witb 
alfalfa, 39; in permanent pasture, 74; 
on wild nrairie, 75. 
Red top, in permanent pasture, 74. 4 
Rilev, Prof— Report on clover-root borer, 
108, 109; report on flavescent-clover wee- 
vil, 110. 
Rotations— Distinct features of, 92, 93; 



CLOVER CULTURE. 



Bampies cf, 94, 96: short, 94: three years, 
94; lour years, 94, C5; fix years, 95; west 
of the Missouri, S5, 96; lor Minueeota, 
96; for potato growers, 96, 97. 

Running liuffalo Clover— Description of,. 
62,63; climatic range of, 63; illustration 
of, 07. 

Sanborn, Prof., on spontaneous combus- 
tion, 85, 86. 

Semi-arid region, approximately defined, 
35,36. 

Sloughs, how best seeded to alslke, 77, 78. 

Soil robbers, operations of, 148, 149. 

Soils of the Eastern and Western states 
compared, 145, 146; none inexhaustible, 
247. 

Soy bean, a substitute for clovers, 96. 

Spontaneous combustion of clover hay, 85, 
90; rrof. Sanborn on, 86, 87; letter on, 
from H. R. Learning, 86; instance of, 87; 
charcoal from, described, 87; J.W.Bnpp's 
report on fifty caf-es of, 88; in Illinois, 
88; Prof. BurrelTs conclusions on, 88, 
89, 90. 

Straw in combination with clover, 1 5, K6. 

Sweet Clover— Distribution of, 11; habit of 
growth, 54; where valuable for forage, 
54; value as bee posture, 54; illustration 
of, 55. 

Tedder — Use of in curing clover hay, 80; 
indispensabl" to secure the best rjualily, 
82; hew to use it to bent advantage, 83; 
failure to use it a frequent cause of 
BpoBtancous combustiou, 85. 

Timothy, iu permanent paf-ture, 74. 

Trifolium Carolinanum— Description of, 
63; climatic range, 63; illustration of, 68. 

Trifolium fucatum— Description of, 61; 
illustration of, 64. 

Trifolium involucratum— Description of, 
62: climatic range of, 62; illustration of, 
«6. 



Trifolium megacephalum— Description of, 

61, 62: climatic range of , 62; lll;.8tratiou 
of, 65. 

Trifolium stoloniferum— Description of, 

62, 63; climatic range, 63; illustration of, 
67. 

Tubercles— The means by which clovers 
acquire nitrogen, 133; description of, 
134; connection between their number 
and the size and vigor of plants, 134; 
relation to ferMlity of soil, 13-4, 135: Ilell- 
riegel's elaborate expeiiments therewith, 
1S4, 135, 13C; illustration and description 
of, 138, 139, 140; Prof. O. W. Atwatcr s in- 
vestigations in relation thereto, 140, 141, 
142; invet ligations of Sir J. 11. Lawes and 
Dr. Giitcrl, 142; the theory of as an expla- 
nation of previouEly known facts in rela- 
tion to clover culture. 142, 143; aft'ords a 
rational explanation of an agricultural 
paradox, 145. 

"Wfy Out"— Must prov'de for retaining 
and restoring soil fertility, lf^2: must be 
sown with leeumcs, 152; must enable 
farmers to condense freights, 153; must 
enable the farmer to economize carbona- 
ceous foods, 154. 155, 1!S6. 

Webster, Prof , description of clover-hay 
worm. 115, 116. 

Wet laiids, how best seeded to alsike clo- 
ver, 77, 78. 

White Clover— Its distribution, 11,13,14; 
its relation to permanent pasture, 45, 47, 
48, 49; wherei it diflFerB from red and 
mammoth clover, 45, 46; method of seed- 
ing, 46; ash constituents coiBpared with 
those of red clover, 46; origin of, 46, 47; 
its peculiar relation to blue grass, 46, 47; 
its disadvan'aKes, 47, 48; depth of cover- 
ing necessary, 49; on wild prairie, 75; in 
permanent pasture, 74. 

Wolff s feeding standards, 101. 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE. 

Common red clover 28 

Mammoth clover 29 

Alfalfa 13 

Alsike 50 

Sweet clover 55 

Crimson clover 57 

Japan clover 59 

Trifolium fucatum 64 

Larg-e-headcd clover 65 

Trifolium involucratum.. 66 

Buffalo clover 67 

Southern clover 68 



PAGE. 

Clover-leaf midge 108 

Clover-root borer 109 

Clover-stem borer Ill 

Clover-leaf beetle 112 

Clover-leaf hopper 114 

Clover-hay worm 115 

Clover dodder 118 

Red clover blossom 119 

Clover-seed midge. . .127, 128 
Clover-seed caterpillar . . 131 
Tubercle on roots of the 

lupine 139 



IBI 




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The publishers of the Homestead, the 
weekly twenty-four pag-e agricultural paper 
of Des Moines, Iowa, edited by a practical 
farmer, will send a few sample copies, FREE 
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THE BEST CLOVER SEED. 



WK PKLI. THE 



VERY BEST IOWA GROWN CLOVER SEED, 

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Arms, and our price, quality cDnsliered. Is lower. Not only is this true of our clover seeda, 
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IOWA SEED CO.. 



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i)U3 and 90r> Waluut StreettOUes^Moines, Iowa. 






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